My Life Turned Upside Down
by SydneyFreeSpirit27
Summary: Rosalinda Pedrosa has had a very ordinary childhood and life. This all changes in a matter of hours as she finds herself suddenly being thrust at a dangerous life with extraterrestrials, unique new abilities and a completely strange and different family.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, basically it's a story based off on the "Ben 10: Omniverse" TV series - only with an OC of my own making. This will not simply be an "insert" as most of you say. I might change a few things in the episodes and perhaps even make chapters of things happening in-between episodes. I shall try my best to keep my character from being "Mary-Sueish", but if it seems like it's bordering on the edge of becoming one - or already is -, do tell please. **

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. _**

* * *

_Chapter 1: Meeting Family Friend_

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock -

I pulled my ear away from my favorite black watch after nearly falling asleep from the relaxing sound. For some reason, people find it annoying. Me? Not so much. A whistling sound started coming from behind me so I craned my neck back to see who was the source of it was. Figures. Janitor with earbuds happily wetting the already shiny white tiles with an old, rusty mop. Sigh. I pulled my lip inside my mouth and started gently nibbling on it - unfortunate habit I've been growing annoyed with for some time - old habits die hard. It's been half an hour since I got to the airport, yet no sign of anybody coming to pick me up.

You see, my parents thought that it would be a good idea for me to bond with an old friend of theirs. Quite strange from my perspective seeing as they allowed me to travel to the United States - alone. Not even my younger siblings came along. Chances like this one present themselves once in a lifetime though, so I instantly took it - alright, maybe I questioned their odd behavior a few times, but I came nonetheless. One thing I didn't like: Other than his last name, I knew absolutely nothing about this so called "old friend". My parents seemed to be in kind of a rush so they barely gave me any explanation or description about him. All I know is that he's a Tennyson. Was that it? Tennyson? I'm not sure. I have a really bad memory - which is a great liability if you ask me, but I'm trying my best to overcome it. Sigh. Oh well.

"Excuse me, are you...Rosalinda?" I heard a voice come from my left. When I turned I saw that it was a boy; brown hair, piercing green eyes and an uncertain look in his face.

"Um...yeah, I'm her...but...who are you?" Stupid question, if he knows me, then he has to be my ride, but I don't think that a teenager is supposed to be a long lost old friend of the family.

"Tennyson, Ben Tennyson. Maybe you've heard of me - major hero, always saving the day, omnitrix, you know the drill." I blinked. Tennyson. Nailed it.

"Actually...I...don't." What was he talking about anyways? He said he was a Tennyson though and that alleviates me greatly.

"What? You mean you've never heard of me before?" He seemed stressed at the fact that I didn't know him. Not my fault.

"Sorry but...I really haven't heard of you." He sighed and slumped.

"Alright, come on, grandpa'll have my head if I don't get you to the HQ soon." I raised a brow at this, standing up as I did. I dragged my gigantic suitcase along. I didn't ask for his help but I was surprised when he didn't offer it. I would've still said 'no'...yet I think it's really impolite when a boy - seeing a skinny girl like me trying to weigh something that's probably half her own weight - doesn't offer his help to a girl in need. Not that I was that desperate.

"HQ?" He started walking away and waved away my comment with his hand as he explained. He seemed very nonchalant yet at the same time somehow preoccupied; weird mix.

"Yeah you know, headquarters." I rolled my eyes. Okay...first impolite, then nonchalant and now smart ass? Sorry Ben, but you're not exactly giving your best "first impression". I had a feeling I knew why he wasn't bothering in giving me his best act though...

"I know what it means, it's just that...my parents didn't tell me anything about this. In fact, where exactly, are we going?" We had gotten out of the airport and were now going towards a goofy-looking van - and by "goofy", I mean that it had a 'chibi' character drawn on it's side. I think the reason Ben isn't bothering too much with me is because of my physique. I'm not exactly "a sight for sore eyes" nor a beauty or anything like that. With glasses, sneakers, black hoodie, T-shirt, pants less tighter than other girls wear them nowadays and no make up, I probably strike him as a nerd stereotype. Either that or he had something better to do than come and pick me up.

"Oh, well...I don't know much about any of this either. I was just told to come and get you." I looked down, slightly disappointed at the lack of answers, "So...does this mean that you've never heard of aliens and wacky stuff like that?" My head snapped up at that. I had heard news, reports, between other stuff from crazy people; my dad and I love everything regarding supernatural themes, so I knew a thing or two.

"Well, I watch the news about all of that stuff but...hehe, anything regarding actual, concrete and absolute evidence...not so much, no." He stopped right in front of the van and whirled around to look at me, getting straight up to my face. He had a...look, that seemed to border between shock and worry. What the...? Personal space much?

"Y-you mean you don't...believe that aliens exist?" I was taken aback. I did a once over him. He seemed like a fairly normal kid; T-shirt, baggy pants, sneakers, watch - actually we have a similar sense of fashion, not a good thing -...I would've never pictured him as a geek. Appearances fool, I guess. I should learn not to judge others, it's pretty hypocritical coming from me.

"Sure I do. Just because I have never seen one, doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist." His brow furrowed, putting a finger up to his chin which let me have a full-on view of the strange design his black and green watch had. I couldn't even see the time because there was nothing to tell it with. It was just green and black. Must be something new.

"Um, this might be a problem." Before I could ask him what he meant, a door opening and closing from the other side came with a new voice.

"Ben, have you retrieved Miss- " The voice stopped at the same time I saw a figure coming from the other side of the van. I froze immediately.

"..."

"..."

"...- Pedrosa?" Finished the strange...thing...before me. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Wha - what?! Just, what?!

"What in-?!" Ben covered my mouth before I could finish and pulled me back a bit. At first my eyes kept themselves large from the surprise, then I frowned and had to restrain myself from biting down on his palm.

"Ben! What are you doing?" Yelled the creature, sounding very much in distress. Said boy holding me groaned in exasperation and then he laughed nervously.

"Listen, uh...I know this is probably kind of weird for you but trust me on this...we won't hurt you at all - so please don't scream." He said the last part in a pleading tone. I grabbed his hand and threw it from my face, then turned away from the 'thing' to look at Ben.

"What is going on? Because I know that Halloween is months away!" Stupid answer, I know. He held up his hands in a surrender position and waved them around.

"It's a really long story - we could tell you all about it on the way to headquarters!" He said as he grinned sheepishly.

"We?" I asked, and that's when I saw a purple hand landing on my shoulder. I jumped slightly and whipped around immediately, knocking into Ben who staggered slightly. Face to face with an actual alien...I could not believe this. In that moment I studied it throughly. It was mostly a lilac shade with white and black markings on it's face, pointed ears, red irises with the eyeballs being yellow and a high tech body armor. Wow.

"Yes. I am Ben Tennyson's partner, Rook Blonko." He gave a simple nod - at least I think it was a 'he', the voice, physique and name all pointed towards that gender.

"Yup. So how about if we get going?" Said Ben, coming from behind me and putting his hands on my shoulders as he pushed me to the passenger door of the van. What have I gotten myself into?

||~[¥]~||

_~Max's Plumbing Van~_

_7:35pm_

_15 minutes of explanation later..._

"Alright, let me see if I got it all down...There's a secret organization called _Plumbers_ that deals with any alien occurrences and such. You two and Max are all Plumbers. Alien attacks occur nearly on a daily basis here in Bellwood. You have a special device called _'Omnitrix'_ that looks like a watch and allows you to change into different alien life forms from all around the galaxy. You've fought many times against different aliens that have threatened our planet - and neither of you have any idea why I'm being taken to the Plumber's HQ?" I listed everything down with my fingers, getting exasperated with my last one.

"Yup."

"Correct." I slumped in my seat - which was between both Ben and Rook - technically not a seat just a spare spot because I'm not wearing a seatbelt and Rook already gave a warning about safety and such -, who I learned is rather very intelligent and polite. In my opinion so far, completely the opposite of Ben.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I muttered to myself as I took my glasses off and passed a hand down my face.

"Hey, don't worry. It's not that bad." I glared at him through narrowed eyes.

"You told me you're basically an alien magnet with that thing on your wrist - wouldn't that mean that we could get attacked by an alien right _now_?" He raised a brow at me, removing his hands from behind his head - I saw Rook looking at me curiously from the corner of my eye. I still wasn't used to the idea that he was an alien.

"Well, yeah...but that doesn't mean that we'll be attacked right _now_! Besides, there are a lot of other reasons aliens can have for attacking. Right Rook?" He turned to his partner for assistance, but when I faced him, his answer wasn't what I had expected.

"Actually, with your record, it would be most accurate to have something attack us." My eyes widened and when I turned I could almost literally see Ben sweat drop. He then glared at Rook.

"The idea was to _not_ scare her _Rook_." Said alien raised a nonexistent eyebrow at this. He has pointed ears too...geez I am really bad at noticing this kind of stuff.

"My apologies. I was merely agreeing with her." He motioned at me, still looking between Ben and the road ahead. Well, nice to know that I'm invisible. I slumped again, this time putting back on my glasses and crossing my arms.

"Well maybe you shouldn't try to be on her side - seriously, not working."

"But I wasn't trying to be on her side, it was simply the truth."

"Um, guys..." I tried to get their attention by waving my hands slightly.

"Dude! She's not used to this kind of stuff! I bet she's already too freaked out by _you_!"

"Guys..." I shook Ben's arm but he was to absorbed in his argument with Rook.

"Why would I freak her out?"

"Guys you should really-"

"Just tell her - we won't get attacked anytime soon by any alien or bad guy!"

"STOP THE CAR!" Both their heads turned to me, surprised by my sudden outburst. I wasn't looking at either of them though - my dark eyes were fixed on the glowing figure, right on the middle of the street, less than five feet away from us.

"Wha-?" I interrupted Ben by pointing a purple, nail colored index finger to the front of the car. Almost immediately Rook slammed a foot down on the breaks, coming a mere few inches from hitting whatever that was. Our bodies all jolted forward from the sudden stop - mine nearly hitting the dash board because of my lack of seatbelt. Ben's outstretched arm was the only thing that held me from banging my head against it.

"What's that?" I asked as I looked at it, wide eyed.

"Uh...stay in the car, okay?" Ben didn't wait for an answer - he didn't even look at me before jumping out and locking the door! Rook was out in a flash too.

"H-hey! What do you think you're-?" That's when I saw Ben fiddling with his watch, before slamming his hand on a green, glowing beacon. I stared, unblinking, as his form changed shape completely.

"Ay, ¿en qué me acabo de meter?(1)" What in the world was _**that?**_ It looked like a huge, yellow and black gorilla crossed with Frankenstein. _Ben_ looked annoyed - or angry, I couldn't tell from here - at the transformation. Was it something he had not planned? Some trained hero _he_ was. I watched entranced as the thing - now that it was closer I could tell it had a slight, reddish glow to it too, and it was carrying something resembling a giant, titanium thermos - roared viciously at the boys. Why did I call them that? Rook waited for Ben to make a move, which he did. Jumping high he went to smash the creature with two huge and powerful fists - the creature's retaliation was amazing - well, I mean of course that it was very efficient and powerful, because that wasn't a good thing at all. It stopped Ben's attack altogether and then threw him away with far too much applied force, sending poor Ben deep into the forest. I gulped at this, looking down at my seat. Would you believe I'm subconsciously looking for a weapon now? As if I could do anything.

I looked up again when I saw Rook move. He got from his back a fancy-looking gun - funny, I hadn't seen that either - and began firing away orange blasts. The attacks were absorbed into the body of the creature, which then started blinking in a show of different lights - almost like crazed, Christmas LED lights - and finally the same exact shots Rook had fired came flying back at him. Seeing this he jumped to the side, avoiding them all. Unfortunately, the blasts were still flying - and heading straight towards the car that I was in. Out of instinct I jumped down, shielding my head and felt the impacts hitting the metal of the van. No explosion or crystal shattering were heard. Huh? I peeked my head out and above the dashboard. Right, Ben mentioned this van was a lot tougher than it looked.

I gasped when Rook's body hit the front window. Covering my mouth I watched as he slipped down. I sat there. Alone. With a strong-as-heck of an alien staring. Right. At _me_. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Without thinking I opened the driver's seat door and dashed into that side of the forest, hearing heavy steps that did not falter right behind me. This is not happening! This is not happening! I am not being chased by an alien! Rook and Ben are okay! I did not just commit the worse amateur move a girl in distress can do! Oh my God! I just made a blonde chick move! How stupid can I get?! I shrieked when an orange blast hit a tree three inches away from me and cowered away from the flying wood.

I looked behind me. Wait. I stopped. Where is it? Suddenly, paranoia kicked in.

"Why am I so stupid? I could've just stayed - but no! I made a blonde move! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" I hit myself repeatedly, somehow still keeping an eye out for the creature that would surely kill me. It's quiet. Very quiet. Definitely not a good thing. Okay. Calm down. Calm down. Nothing wrong here. I shuffled my converse across the ground nervously. Maybe it went back to beating the shmuck out of Ben. Or maybe it was clumsy and tripped. Or maybe it got lost. Or maybe -

"Rose! Look out!" Or maybe it's right behind me! I saw it from behind the trees. It happened in slow motion. Almost running to me. Vicious roar ripping through the earlier silence. Suddenly, a rope or cable whips out of nowhere, wrapping quickly around the supposed feet of the creature. It tumbles down. Thermos device flying out of it's grasp. The gray container keeps flying, before it lands directly in my hands - which I almost dropped from the sudden, heavy weight which I had not expected at all. For a few seconds I just stared down, confused, before I realized too late, that I was indeed holding an alien device - probably a dangerous one too. It shifted and opened, revealing a neon blue, sloshing about, substance inside. I gasped but that was the only thing I had time to do, because at that exact moment, my surprise filled gasp was drowned out by the bright light that broke out of the container.

||~[¥]~||

Oh...my head...hurts...

"- look...waking...maybe...bad..." I couldn't make out the voices that well because of the thumping inside my skull, but I was pretty sure I heard Ben's...I think...

"How's she looking?" Almost positive it's Ben. What's that poking I feel in my toe?

"Better than I expected - or any of us." New voice. Feminine if I'm correct. Am I at the Doctor's or something? Wait. What happened? All I remember is Ben and Rook getting their butts handed to them by that...oh no! I tried to open my eyes. We're they okay? What happened? I can't remember! Did I die? No...I heard - unless Ben died too.

"I think she should be further examined. There has to be some kind of reaction to that substance. In fact, I'm surprised a human managed to withstand the chemicals." Substance...

Flashes of neon blue swirled in my head. That's right. The thermos with the blue stuff. I had it. But then...what happened...ugh! Why can't I remember!

"Geez...you'd think you guys would be grateful that she wasn't smoked or disintegrated or turned into some kind of mutant!" What? That's Ben again but...what the heck was he talking about? Was he talking about me? _Disintegration_? _Mutant_? I'm pretty sure it's time to freak out, right?

"Look...her heart rate is going up." That's right. I'm about to go into cardiac arrest here thanks to Ben. Wait...new voice...no...that was Rook. "Can she hear us?" Thank you Rook! A dead silence followed, the only sound being that of my heart on the monitor. My fingers slowly flexed. Yes! Moving again...sorta.

"Perhaps...Rosalinda? Rosalinda, can you hear me?" The first time she called my name I strained to move, to speak. By the second time I had managed to force my eyes open. "That's good...though very strange." I squinted at the super bright light, it almost left me blind.

"Can somebody shut the lights off?" I said as I raised an arm to try to shield my eyes. I found that several needles and other stuff were attached to it.

"No. We need them on." I heard another voice, it sounded like it was bragging. I didn't really care though, my head was pounding and the light was making it worse.

"Ugh...I hope there's a black out...I can't take that light..." My voice sounds a bit hoarse and it took more strength than I thought to talk. It hurt.

"If the lights went out who would treat you, you ignorant girl?" I wanted to glare at the owner of that voice but couldn't even move my neck.

"Come on guys...just tune it down." Some arguing ensued with the annoying voice and a new one - it sounded a bit raspy and was definitely a man. How many people were in this room? The lights died down and I was able to take a look at where I was. Sort of...my vision was blurry. I didn't feel dizzy though. Oh...my glasses...

"My glasses...where are they?" I searched the room. It looked very high-tech, didn't look much like a hospital. I saw familiar faces - not clearly but I could see it was them. Both Rook and Ben had their eyes centered on my face. That made me a tad uncomfortable.

"Oh. They are right here." I saw Rook's form move and suddenly I felt cool objects being placed behind my ears. My glasses. He must've placed them on me. I adjusted them correctly and went to slide my legs off the...bed...or whatever I was on. It was harder than a bed so I don't think it was one. When I sat up - too quickly - my head started spinning and I had to grip it to keep myself from fainting.

"Ow...my head." I felt something beside me but didn't turn to see what it was.

"Well, with that nasty hit you took it's no surprise!" Again, the annoying voice. It sounded a lot like the British tone but with no accent...does that even make sense?

"Thankfully we were able to stabilize you and stitch ya up in no time." A groggy, slightly hoarse voice with an accent I can't put my finger on rang out. Okay, now I really want to know how many people are in h- wait! Stitches? Why would I need that? I turned, opening my eyes to find myself wishing I hadn't. I stared blankly at the two, small, grey creatures standing on a metal surface that I too was on. I felt panic rise within me and in a matter of two seconds I managed to jump, scoot backwards and fall off the metal table. And boy, what a shriek came out of my mouth. If I hadn't been so shocked I would've felt completely embarrassed.

"Woah! Take it easy Rose! Those are Galvans! They can't hurt you even if they wanted to!" My back hurts now too but I was pretty sure that was Ben talking. Sure enough I opened my eyes to see him kneeling down beside my sprawled form, legs hanging in the air against the metal surface.

"Galvans? You never said anything about those." That I can remember that is.

"I didn't think it was necessary. As a matter of fact I thought it was useless to mention them!" I felt two pair of arms grabbing me by the shoulders and forearms to pick me up. I let them.

"We're standing right here you know!" Annoying voice. When I stood upright I glance to the table to see the two little creatures - Galvans - put their hands on their hips. I noticed how bright the green from their eyes was. It really stood out from the gray coloring of their skin.

"No offense guys." Ben added afterwards - although he didn't sound like he meant it.

"Rose, are you feeling okay?" I turned to see an old man with a red, flower print shirt - actually, he remembers me of the chibi painted on the van that picked me up. Why has everybody taken to call me Rose?

"Uh...well, my head feels like it was hammered, but other than that I'm okay...I think." There was a nagging pain on the left side of my forehead but I didn't feel like worrying about it.

"Well, I'm sorry we couldn't meet under...better circumstances. I'm Max Tennyson." My eyes widened and I looked directly at him.

"So 'you're' Max! Finally! A name I recognize!" He chuckled at my exasperated tone. It was true. I was tired of being around so many strangers. Some more strange than others. He put a hand to my shoulder.

"Alright guys, I'm sure you've studied Rose long enough, let her get some rest. Come on Rose, I'm sure you will like to see where your room is." He started dragging me away.

"But-!" He interrupted one of the Galvans.

"You can keep testing her later." With that we exited the room. At first I thought we were alone so I was preparing to ask many questions, but I never got the chance to.

"Grandpa Max! Did they find out what was in that container?" I looked at the other side of Max to see Ben walking with us. Wait, so Max is Ben's grandpa? Small world.

"Yes, they have. Unfortunately it's not a substance any of us here at Earth have dealt with before so were waiting for some recruits from the Planet where it came from to get here." My eyes widened. I stopped causing them to stop too.

"Wait, is that...that thing, whatever it was, dangerous or something?" I should've asked if it was toxic.

"Honestly, to humans it's supposed to be very toxic." I tensed immediately when Max said that, I saw Ben snap his head to his grandfather with an incredulous face, as if he couldn't believe he had said that, "But, for some reason you seemed to be less affected by it's chemicals." I sighed in relief, but then straightened up.

"What does that mean?" I asked him as I walked forward to where they had stopped.

"That's what we're trying to figure out right now." I nodded quietly and followed them through various halls. Finally we stopped at one of the many doors in here.

"This is your room. Take your time with your stuff and make yourself comfortable. I'll send Ben or Rook here in an hour so they can show you around the place." Once again I nodded at them and sat down on my new bed the minute they were gone. Oh man...now I have even more questions.

* * *

Translations:

(1) "Oh, what have I gotten myself into?"

A little trivia here: Originally I was not going to post this. I had just gotten tired of seeing so many frigging RookxBen stories here! There are very little OCs so I decided to try out making an OC for the story. It was just for fun, but then I figured I could give it a try. Hope you guys liked it! :)

_**~ Merry Christmas! ~**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC, Rosalinda._**

**No flames. Read & Review!**

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Chapter 2: Patrolling Madness

Three hours passed by after Max left me to myself. Half of that time, I've been stuck in the bathroom. At first all I did organize my stuff. In here I had a bed, a closet bigger than the one I once owned and had to share with both my sister and mother, a nightstand without drawers and just recently discovered the drawers came out of the wall beside my bed. This isn't the strangest thing though, the shower is. Toilet? A bit high tech looking but easy enough to decipher - I flushed it by accident. The shower was another story. Instead of having the two normal handles - one with a _'C'_, one with an _'H' _- there was something that looked like a control panel, many, many buttons.

I had pressed random ones, with not so good results. A jutted, green one resulted in ice cubes; a plain, yellow one ended up with covering the shower in steam; a small, red one splashed a far too strong hose at me - it sent me against the far wall. Right now I was afraid to push anything else. Then again, my "tour guide" should be here soon so I can't just stand here and wait for a miracle to happen. I stepped forward and pressed an orange, square button. I saw a pipe come out above me. Yes! I smiled but my victory was short lived. Next thing I know I'm covered in a dark, sticky substance. I let out a shriek if surprise and disgust. What in blazes-?! What is this stuff?!

"Miss Pedrosa?" I heard a masculine, gentle voice come from outside the bathroom door. Rook? Oh no! I ran out of time! And now I'm even dirtier than before!

"Oh! Uh, Rook? Is that you?" I almost bit my lip when I remembered the sticky stuff over me.

"Yes...is there a problem Miss Pedrosa? I heard a scream." My face instantly heated up. How embarrassing! He heard me shriek...guess no other way out of it.

"Um...how does this shower work? Because I've been showered with pretty much everything but water!" I felt utterly embarrassed and humiliated by having to ask for help with this.

"Oh. Simply press the blue button on the bottom left." Sure enough, there it was, laughing right in my face for being so stupid.

"Thanks Rook!" I called, still feeling the heat on my face behind all the sticky stuff.

"It was no problem, I will give you some time to get ready and then we can begin the tour!" I sighed in relief, yet feeling guilty for making him wait.

"Okay! Sorry!"

"Do not worry, it is very tricky the first time!" Yeah right...he was just saying that to make me feel better.

||~[¥]~||

_1 hour and 47 minutes later..._

I discovered that the sticky stuff was actually mud. It shouldn't had surprised me. With so many different aliens around here, there had to be a reason for why there was an entire panel for the shower. I changed into a pair of jeans like the last ones with a navy T-shirt and my hoodie over it - I loved it because of the white fluff it had inside the hoodie. My black watch, and I changed the black laces of my black convers for shiny, rainbow ones. My hair? I just grabbed some gel, and got it somewhere between wavy and curly.

"- and right here we have the cafeteria - " Rook was showing me around. Honestly, I already forgot half of it. This place was so big! He seemed to notice my uncertainty because he stopped.

"Do not worry, it will take some time for you to memorize the entire headquarters." I nodded, smiling slightly - what a liar, I'm really worried about getting lost. Suddenly Rook had his hand against his pointed ear.

"Yes Magister Tennyson? Well I actually - yes. Oh. Alright then." He turned his red, yellowish eyes to me.

"What's wrong?" And who the heck is Magister? Mm, maybe the Tennysons are a larger family than I thought.

"We will have to postpone the tour. It is almost time for us to go patrolling. Since you are still not very familiar with the Plumber's Headquarters and the Galvans appear to be obsessed with you, Magister Tennyson suggested you come with us. Perhaps that way you may be able to see for yourself how we Plumbers work." Using the word "Plumber" for an intergalactic officer is still on the weird radar for me but I think I'm getting used to it. Wait. Me? _Patrol?_

"Uh...are you sure that's a good idea? I'm not very...adept to fighting or anything like that." He smiled at this. For some reason it made me feel like a child asking if she could grab a cookie.

"Do not worry. If there happens to be trouble, you can stay inside the vehicle." That...just made me feel lame but okay!

"Oh, okay."

||~[¥]~||

As it turns out, Magister is just a way by which the Plumbers call Max. Right now I was talking to Rook and Max, waiting for Ben who was late.

"What do you mean by _side-effects_, exactly?" I asked feeling uneasy about the whole thing.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing too extreme - maybe just some dizziness and tiredness. Nothing to worry about." Max tried to reassure me, but I wasn't buying his act as he patted me on the back gently. Next to me Rook seemed worried.

"Why hasn't Ben arrived yet? Do you think something bad could've happened?" Max then gained a stern expression across his face. Ooh. Somebody's in trouble.

"Oh don't you worry. I have an idea as to where Ben is right now." For some reason I don't think it had anything to do with aliens.

Speak of the King of Rome...

"Hey. Sorry I'm late." Said Ben who had a drink of some sort on one of his hands. Not a smart move or choice.

"Ben, you're not on your own schedule anymore. You can't keep your partner waiting." Max scolded him. I have to admit, it was kind of funny to watch.

"I was...off saving the universe!" Lame excuse when you're holding out that funny drink. Max noticed too as his vision changed directly to the beverage. Sheepishly Ben hid it behind his back. When Max walked away, shaking his head at his grandson's behavior, Ben relaxed and started drinking from the plastic cup.

"Let's go Rook, I'm parked over here." Ben started to walk away when Rook stopped him. Heh...I don't have my license yet...then again I'm not enthusiastic about driving either and it's a lot of responsibility. My parents didn't see it that way but I still refused.

"We'll take mine." Rook said as he pointed something that looked like a remote at a car and a sound came. I turned with Ben and we both gaped at the huge - and I mean HUGE - black and green monster of a vehicle. Ben even stopped drinking his...whatever it was that he was drinking. Suddenly the car moved away to show the silly van that had picked me up. Ben's face fell while I just stared. I know they said it was well equipped and everything but I never expected this to be Rook's car.

"Wow, I bet the girls all start screaming when they see this ride rolling down the block." Ben said sarcastically, to which I nudged him slightly. Rook seemed to not be bothered by this though as he pressed the "car remote" again.

"Females are not afraid of my vehicle." I glanced sideways at him, "But they probably should be." I was about to retort that I was definitely not scared of the car when said object started shifting. I closed my mouth only to have it drop slightly when it turned into some sort of high tech, flying machine. Okay...maybe a little intimidated.

"You know, sometimes, you're actually kinda awesome." Ben grinned at Rook, who smiled in appreciation. Ben quickly turned back around and the smile disappeared from his face. "Sometimes." He said as if for emphasis.

"What a jerk..." A muttered as I passed by him and to the van, followed by Rook. Unfortunately it didn't go back to being the little car it had once been. I'd been hoping for it.

"Whoa, wait! Where do you think you're going?" Ben said running over towards me. I turned to look at him.

"Who? Me?"

"Yes you! You're supposed to be with the Galvans anyways." At the mention I shuddered.

"No thanks." I said and turned to see Rook inside the vehicle but on the passenger side. He offered me a lavender hand which I gratefully took and was hoisted up with ease onto the seats.

"Wait a minute! Rook! Why is she coming with us?" Ben yelled at his partner who so far, had a ten from me of gentlemanliness and politeness.

"Magister Tennyson thought it would be a good idea." Was all he answered as he sat down on the driver's seat, me sitting next to him and leaving a space for Ben.

"Grandpa...no wonder." He shook his head as he climbed in next to me. I crossed my arms and glared at him. Deep down I was actually hurt, but for some reason I didn't feel like keeping to myself.

"Is there a problem with me tagging along?" Honestly it's not like I was ecstatic about the field trip either but as long as I stayed I'd rather be treated well - or at least have civil conversations.

"What? Oh no! Sorry Rose...it's not you. Just lately things haven't turned out pretty well. You have nothing to do with it though." Well, he apologized and he looked embarrassed too. Sigh, I must look snappish too.

"It's okay. Sorry I snapped at you. Crazy day. Not good for keeping the mood up." We both nodded at each other as if signifying that everything was cool.

We rode in silence for quite some time. It made me uneasy. I kept trying to distract myself with our surroundings but to no avail. Ben looked too absorbed by his Smoothie - I'd ask him about it right after we got out onto the highway - and Rook seemed too concentrated on his driving. I didn't want to bother Ben and I didn't know what I could ask Rook. After some more pondering my eyelids started to droop. Slowly...ever so...-

"I am unfamiliar with human emotional cues, but are you angry at me?" The sound of Rook's voice woke me up which made me look up at him with a tired expression.

"Huh?" Both me and Ben said as we looked at him. I don't know if he had said who he was referring - me or Ben - to but I didn't hear it.

"Oh. I am sorry for awakening you Ms. Pedrosa. I was actually referring to Ben's behavior." I nodded in understanding, though a bit embarrassed at being caught dozing off. I have to get a better grip of myself - I'm always easily lulled to sleep in a moving vehicle.

"Nah Rook. It's like I told Rose here," He patted me on the shoulder to make his point. "I'm just bored. I've just been feeling more like a tour guide than a hero lately." He started making motions with his hands. "Over here on your right you'll see the city. Over here on the left you'll see what we call water. Careful it's wet." I didn't get what was upsetting about that, but Rook's next comment killed me.

"Water is wet. I'm familiar with that." I started snickering when he said that. In fact, I saw Ben try to hold back a grin. No doubt to keep from laughing himself. "What?" He asked, confused about what I was laughing at.

"It's nothing Rook don't worry about it - and by the way, call me Rose. You already did so before, remember?" Rook smiled slightly at this.

"I'm sorry I left you waiting - both of you. I just don't wanna change how I work. I've saved the universe like a billion times - at least!" Bragger much?

"That is why I am looking forward to this. I hope the real Ben Tennyson lives up to the legends." Legends? Seriously? Ben stopped abruptly sipping and turned to Rook. Some of the pink smoothie felt out...yuck.

"There are legends?" He said, green eyes shining like I had never seen ever since I met him. Rook smiled too.

"Yes. They can't all be true though. For instance, Alien X," I raised a brow. What now? "That's just a rumor put on the Extranet by a fan isn't it?" Before Ben could answer I questioned.

"What's Alien X? And what in the world is the extranet?" Ben went onto summarize quickly that Alien X was a very powerful Alien DNA he had stored in his omnitrix - so powerful it sounded surreal - and the extranet was pretty much just a version of the Internet. I felt like slapping myself for that one - it was pretty obvious.

"Oh, okay."

"Anyways, Alien X _'is' _real." Rook looked surprised as Ben leaned back.

"He is? Show me! Change into Alien X right now!" I couldn't tell if he really was that excited or if it was just sarcasm. Ben frowned and closed his eyes, then said that he couldn't. Rook sighed at this. "Just as I thought." Now Ben looked annoyed. I took my glasses off and started wiping then slowly with my shirt - I know I shouldn't but it's a habit I grew into.

"Look - just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't real. Right Rose?" I was startled when he dragged me into the conversation so suddenly.

"Well...I have to admit it does sound too good to be true - but hey! A bunch of things I never thought would exist turned out to be real today, so why not?" I beamed slightly at Ben, who seemed overjoyed at having someone believe him.

"Ha! See? Rose believes Alien X is real! It won't be bad having you around you know." He nudged me, raising his eyebrows and grinning from ear to ear. Rook still didn't look convinced. I sighed.

"Good to know...just don't try to make me choose sides when you two argue - I hate that." I warned him. In warned war, few die.

"Look, just find us some hero-ing to do and you can tell me if I live to the legend." He said talking to Rook. It was very entertaining what happened next. First we caught some strange, crab-like aliens munching on a car. As soon as Ben motioned to activating his Omnitrix the little creatures obediently started putting everything back into place. For crabs, they were quite adorable.

"Strike one." I said, teasing Ben. He glared at me then shook it off.

"Plenty more to come around." That was his retaliation. I shrugged. For some reason I was sure he'd pass the third strike and more. The guys then followed a strange alien with tentacles that carried a purse. They figured she or he had stolen it - turns out the poor thing was just _returning_ it to an old lady who still screamed at the sight of the creature. Strike two. Though I didn't say it aloud. Ben seemed disappointed.

The next one was both cute and hilarious. We followed a slightly fat alien with the head looking like an octopus to an alley without end. It looked like it was going to attack a little alien that was transparent. Ben even threatened by pointing his omnitrix. The '_weapon_'? It was a bottle. The little alien was his/her baby and he/she was trying to feed it. Ha!

"Should I say strike three or is it obvious?"

"At least the world is safe from...car munching aliens." Ben leaned forward looking somewhere between bored and sad that he hadn't been able to play the hero all night. I felt kinda bad for teasing him now. Rook on the other hand was munching on something. What was it? I have no idea and I don't know if I should ask.

"Hey, at least you got a night off." I said trying to cheer him up by being more positive. He still didn't seem to find a good side to the situation as he pointed to a guy with spiky, red and black hair that was talking on the cellphone - wait...what's that yellow cord?

"Look, some normal dude. Maybe we should arrest him for day walking." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm.

"Geez Ben, you're pessimism is gonna end up rubbing up on me - and I already am enough of a pessimist."

"His phone shouldn't be able to be powered here on Earth." Rook said narrowing his eyes. "Is that normal?" I looked closer, the phone itself looked wacky.

"No, it's _not_ normal." Ben said, narrowing his eyes too. i could just see the happiness inside, masking it with the tough guy look he was trying to pull off. As the guy walked off Rook went out one door and Ben the other. I was tired of just sitting here so I followed after them. As I tiptoed behind them Ben turned to me.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm bored and my butt was leaving a mark on the seat. I promise I'll be quiet!" I put my hands together, and gave the best impression of puppy dog eyes I could muster - with the glasses I wasn't sure if it would work.

"Alright, fine. Just stay close and hide yourself if a fight breaks out." Weird how authoritative and serious he sounded. I nodded all the same.

"Well you tell 'er that I'm part of something big!" The guy said forcefully into the phone before turning to where we were hiding. "I'll call you back." He whispered hurriedly and hung up. I stayed behind Rook, peeking my head over his broad, armor clad shoulder slightly to see what the soon-to-be-arrested guy would do. Suddenly I caught movement on his hand. His phone had taken on a shape that looked between a gun and a taser, then in a flash turned to fire a yellow beam directly at where we were. My eyes widened but before I could do anything Ben had shoved Rook back, which sent him right at me. I let out a strangled cry as Rook's weight squashed me. I heard Ben say something.

"You're welcome." It came out very smugly and directed towards Rook, who he had "saved" by pushing out of the way. As Ben rook off after the guy Rook stood quickly, grabbing my forearm on the way and hauling me up with him. Not letting me go as he dragged me along after Ben.

"Rose, are you unharmed?" I looked up to see Rook glance at me worriedly.

"I'm okay." Not true. Something from his armor had dug into my stomach and left a pulsing pain there but I wasn't about to worry about that now. He didn't seem convinced but dropped it as we came to a stop beside Ben. A red - I don't know much about cars so I'll go with something that looked like a Jeep with huge wheels. It came straight at us with no intention of stopping. Rook jumped to the right, pushing me against the wall with his arm over me. Ben had landed face first but managed to push himself against the wall at the same time.

"Finally, some action!" Once again, Ben took off. We followed quickly, the pulsing pain still nagging at my stomach. I heard Ben talking to himself.

"Big Chill will let me cut straight through these buildings!" He slammed his hand onto his omnitrix after changing to the alien desired with it. He has an alien that can do that? I'm gonna need a guide with all these and more alien species soon. I don't think he transformed into what he wanted because in his place was a creature made of rock with flames on his head, hands and feet. Ben slammed right into the wall.

"Ooh! That looked like it hurt." I said as we came closer.

"Heatblast? Seriously?" Disbelief was in his strange, raspy voice. He looked up at the tall building in front of him. "Time to improvise." I stood back when fire shot from his hands and feet, propelling up and out of Rook's and my view. Speaking of Rook, he grabbed me once more and with lightning speed got us to the van. He drove like a maniac!

"Woah! I don't think I've ever seen you drive like this Rook-! Eek!" Rook spiraled to block the guy's car, hoping to stop him. He growled when it had little effect. Then proceeded to turn the car and at the same time it morphed into it's flying mode. We took off with Ben in tow. I'm terribly embarrassed to say that I was literally pushed back into my seat when we launched forward. My hands automatically gripped the seat and the door. Dang...I knew persecutions were like hectic but this is another story. I saw that Ben lowered himself before firing at one of the tires of the red Jeep, effectively wearing and burning it off. The car screeched to a stop as Ben transformed mid air, his butt hitting the ground three times before his body turned and landed roughly. I cringed. Ouch. That's gonna sting. A lot. I looked up just as the guy from before jumped out of his car. Rook left the van floating above the Jeep.

"Open the door Rose!" I did as told and stood back as Rook leaped out, landing on the car and then propelling himself and landing on the guy, taking him down. I almost cheered for his capture. Instead I opted for carefully but still clumsily climbing down from the floating vehicle and onto the Jeep. A strange sound came from it. What the heck is tha?

"You guys wouldn't last a minute against 'my' boss!" I heard the guy say confidently.

"Guys! His car is making some really weird noises!" I barely noticed the three heads that turned to me as I went to the front of the car. I leaned my head down. It was coming from under the hood.

"That doesn't sound like a typical Earth combustion engine." That's what I said Rook...sort of.

"Maybe it's a hybrid." Pfft. I had the urge to flick Ben over the head for that. The guy panicked when he saw my slim hands going for the hood.

"There's nothing in there! I swear!" Uhuh, yeah right. I opened it as Ben and Rook both came to stand by my sides. A yellow container with a huge crack was what we saw. I took a step back, panicked when the crack became bigger. Like that the container exploded.

"Yikes!" I jumped back, covering myself as did the guys. The pain that had ebbed before came back to poke at me. How annoying...a yellow ray of electricity came floating out. It landed in front of the guy - wait, wait, wait! His hands are behind his back; were the guys in the process of arresting him? Darn, I missed that! I stared and tilted my head. It was a small alien; black and yellow, with tiny arms and legs - heck, the little guy could barely reach my knee. To me it had a battery-like shape. It had two signs; one for plus and one for minus on the back of it's tiny body. Ben gasped. I looked at him to see that he looked shocked. What was so scary about a little fella like him? Speaking of which, it morphed into electricity before touching the guy's backpack. When it landed back on the ground, it had a new companion by his side. Oh. That's what.

"Megawhatts?" Ben asked himself, still sounding shocked. I looked at Rook and he too looked surprised. I stared at the tiny aliens. Seriously, what is the big deal? They're cute if anything. They started flying around laughing mischievously and going from lamppost to lamppost - breaking the previous as they did. "I haven't seen any of these guys in years." They looked over at the red and black haired guy angrily - he only grinned nervously - before leaping on him and zapping him continuously.

"Ow! Hey! Stop that!" When I saw how the little Megawhatts were laughing at the boy's I couldn't help it, I had to cover my mouth to stop my giggles. They were so cute and funny! And their laughter was contagious!

"I've never faced a Nosedeenian. Any advice?" Rook took a weapon from his shoulder - mmm, I should ask him about it later. I stood back when the Megawhatts traveled over Rook's body and started repeatedly zapping him.

"Try not to let them zap you." I looked at Ben with a tired expression at his helpless "advice". Poor Rook...

"Dully noted." He said after the Megawhatts had finally leaved him alone. The Megawhatts then traveled on the electricity cables and away from us.

"Stop them!" Yelled Ben and we all took off. I looked behind me at the floating car hesitantly and at the sure-to-escape vandal. I couldn't do much about it though so unwillingly I followed Ben and Rook. They caused a huge mess with the cars - the Megawhatts, I mean. Nearly causing accidents too!

"Where'd they go?" Ben frantically looked around. I looked up and saw them, making faces at us.

"There!" I pointed above at the building. We took off before Ben stopped and looked at us.

"I'll keep after them - you two, give me some eyes in the sky." You two? Before I could ask he was gone. I turned to Rook, ready to ask him instead when I saw the weapon on his shoulder move and a grappling hook shot off and hooked to the roof of a nearby building. I didn't have time to protest as he took hold of my arm and then my feet left the ground.

"Ah!" I shrieked at the sudden change in altitude. He flung us over two buildings - I had a Spider-Man déjà vu as we did this, only that I was far more reluctant to be flung around than when I was a little girl. I hung onto him tightly even when he stopped on top of a building for a moment before dropping to my knees. He said something to Ben over a communicator but I was too busy trying to stop myself from having a heart attack.

"Rose, are you alright?" I didn't even look up at him.

"I-I've been better. J-just warn me the next time you do something like that."

"Very well, hold on." He grabbed my wrist. My eyes widened. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

We reached Ben in few minutes - honestly? To me it felt more like hours. He was in a clock-like humanoid form, leaning over and looking - or sounding - exhausted. He transformed back into his human form just as we landed beside him; Rook landing perfectly and me stumbling before regaining my balance.

"Are you hurt Ben?" I looked at Ben concerned too.

"Give me a minute...so I don't hurl." Instinctively I took a step back, standing on the other side of Rook. Nothing personal, I just didn't like to see people vomit.

"It's a miracle they didn't escape a Chronosapien." I like Ben's names of different aliens better - again, no offense to Rook's knowledge.

"That's the thing. I think they '_wanted_' me to follow them." I patted Ben gently on the back, careful not to step too close to him.

"Do you need more time?" I looked at Ben when Rook said this.

"Yeah, I almost went through a cardiac arrest but you look like you're ready to drop dead." Rook nodded before he froze, raising an eyebrow at me.

"When did this happen?"

"The whole way back here." I said sheepishly. I felt like laughing at myself for that but I resigned to shrugging it off.

"You could've just said so." I looked up at him with a half smirk.

"So could you." I said, watching as the confusion filled expression on his face changed to a knowing smile. "So, you ready to keep going Ben?" I turned my attention to the brown haired boy who was still with his hands on his knees.

"Yeah. But if you see my face turning green: Step. Back." Rook looked confused.

"No need to tell me twice." I said, placing my hands in my pockets and watching as we went into a warehouse. The sight that awaited us caught everyone by surprise. There were tons of other Megawhatts that were trapped inside cylindric containers that were attached to a huge machine. The two little ones that lead us here were trying to break the glass, and waving their little arms at us frantically.

"I see it but I don't believe it...the Megawhatts need our help." I looked curiously at Ben but right now was not the time for questions. I really wanted to know what Ben's history with the Megawhatts was.

"Someone has set up a factory that uses them as a power source." Suddenly, right after he said that, Rook pushed Ben back with me. A guy in a weird, red metallic suit came out.

"Hey! Two of the batteries got out!" At the sight of the man the Megawhatts started to run away - or fly...whatever - when he blasted them with a yellow energy beam and dragged them towards him. I jumped almost running towards them, in surprise and anger, but Ben held me back. The dumb, nagging pain came back and I subconsciously started rubbing the spot on my belly. The poor little things were sucked into the two cylinder containers on his back. I realized then that there was movement behind us.

"Better do something soon if you know what I mean..." Ben said all of a sudden. Did he see the guy...?

"I do." Exactly a seconds after Rook said that Ben threw his leg out and kicked the guy's legs from under him. It looked like a planned and synchronized move because Rook knocked him back with a powerful kick to the chest - using the momentum Ben gave him. Dang...I was about to 'try' to help but an intense pain settled in my chest. You know when you grab an orange and squeeze it to get the juice out? My chest felt like it was the orange and it was being squeezed out. I barely noticed when a yellow beam captured the three of us in some sort of energy sphere. I only put my hands to my chest and winced, leaning against the strangely smooth wall.

"Rose, did you get hurt?" I didn't need to look up to know it was Rook.

"No...I'm fine." I managed to squeeze out. Opening my eyes I decided to try and listen to Ben's conversation with a new guy. There were three; the guy that had us trapped was the one that caught the two Megawhatts that lead us here, he had a white Mohawk; the one that Ben and Rook fought had a purplish-pinkish Mohawk; and the last one had the same shade as the one that had us trapped with weird, purple tattoo on his beefy shoulders. I would've gagged if i wasn't trying to dull out the pain. I heard one of the others call him Fistrick - sounds like a magic show.

"Well, this kind of alien tech doesn't just fall off a truck." Fistrick said - I think he was the leader - as he worked on a punching bag. For some reason I found it really stupid - seriously, he looked dumb.

"I'm sure whoever you took it from isn't too happy about it going missing." I sighed in relief as the pain finally disappeared. I looked at Ben as he leaned back and glared at him. I would too. Speaking of which he punched the punching bag so hard it broke from its support and flew a couple feet away from him. He chuckled.

"He don't care anymore, bro." I shuddered at the way he said it - sounded very malicious. I looked at Rook, he seemed really busy with his little trinket. I hold back a laugh though when he stuck his tongue out in concentration.

"You steal alien tech and then use alien hostages to charge it!" Ben said as glared harder at the man.

"One alien makes it, another alien powers it; I mass produce and sell it to the highest bidder. It's just good business bro." Ugh, I hate it when people say phrases like that one too much 'bro'. It just burns out. He started walking towards us when Rook's thing-a-ma-gob flashed green. It looked like a trigger. "What is 'that'?" Fistrick said exactly what I was thinking.

"An electron entanglement disruptor." Cool. Rook pressed the glowing green button when he finished the short explanation. Almost immediately a series of green discharges flew around the yellow sphere and then it disintegrated; ultimately freeing us. Before Ben even touched the ground he had changed into another alien. It looked like it was made out of Legos. In my opinion; Coolest. Alien. Yet. He smashed his hands into the ground - the only thing missing was shouting out: "Hulk Smash!" - taking out one of the lackeys, then chuckled and said: "Ye-heah." Promptly advancing on Fistrick. I had been standing next to Rook to stay out of Ben's destructive way but my eyes grew the size of saucers when I caught sight of the huge, metal fists heading our way.

"Duck!" I yelled and dove out of the way. Rook managed to duck just like I told him to, whipping out a wicked looking, orange, energy blade. I think it came out of his weapon - the same one he used before to fling from building to building! Talk about multitasking. The guy screeched to a stop as Rook stepped back slightly, his stance ready for battle - meanwhile I just stood where I was and watched. As always, from the sidelines. That's when I looked behind me at the caged up Megawhatts. Anger surged through me. The poor things looked drained out. How could somebody do something like this?! It's terrible! Mind set I charged towards the huge machine that held them captive. It was probably a dumb idea since I honestly didn't have a clue as to how I would free them but I could always 'try' to improvise.

When I sneaked past Ben and the two 'bad dudes' I realized what a big mistake I made. How would I get up there? I looked desperately up at the little aliens. How? How? I looked around me. Maybe if I go by the other way... Looking up I started running to the opposite side, which hid me from view at the moment. I jumped various times to reach the containers. I missed every single time by a lot of inches - feet probably. I'm not a shorty the containers were just too high from where I was standing. I looked back up and was surprised at what I saw. All of the Megawhatts above me were looking directly at me. I would've said that it was just because I was visibly straining to reach and free them but the joyous, wonder filled looks they were giving said otherwise. I looked around me. Rook nor Ben were here. What were they so cheery about? I'm a lousy rescuer! That's when a very weird sensation washed over me. It was numbing. I took a step back and brought my hands up to run at my eyes which had started to see white spots. Bad idea. My hands! My hands they were...glowing. Glowing. They were freaking glowing! I stood still, frozen in shock and fear at the blue aura surrounding my slim hands. My watch didn't seem affected by it and for that I was glad.

"Oh man..." I whimpered lowly. This couldn't be good. My head shot up. The blue stuff! This has got to be a side effect! Yeah! Max said side effects were completely normal, right? We're those his exact words? Mmm, can't remember. I looked up at the small aliens, then back at my hands and so on until a wide grin came over my face. An idea surged. A crazy idea but nonetheless it was something. "Okay little guys...I'm gonna try and bust you out, kay?" It was strange. Almost as if they could understand me they started jumping up and down with huge, face eating smiles. I aimed as best as I could - I definitely don't possess marksmanship - and then tried to concentrate to let go of the energy. I don't know what I had been expecting, but it was defiantly 'not' what happened next. It was like somebody had pressed a button to defy gravity and I was off the ground.

"Eek!" I let out a small chirp of fright as my body elevated quickly off the ground. The glowing stopped but my ascent didn't. Before I could end up on the roof I took hold of the closest, upcoming container. I practically hugged it before making sure that I would neither fall or elevate to the roof. I heard a few sounds, small thumps, before realizing it was the Megawhatt beneath me, trying to punch through the impenetrable glass. "Hey little guy, you ready to get out?" He looked up when I spoke and nodded eagerly. I looked down at my hands again. At first I had wanted to get 'up' here...so maybe that's the reason I actually ended up here. If I can just concentrate I can maybe -

"Huh?" The blue glow emerged again, but this time...no, no! No! "Eeaaahhh!" I yelled as I literally went 'through' the glass, Megawhatt and all, then descended quickly to the ground. I felt something in my arms that I kept hugged to me until I roughly hit the ground. "Ow!" I stayed where I was, my back, neck, shoulder and the very back of my head were all pulsing with pain. Suddenly movement came from my arms. I looked down and realized that I had taken the Megawhatt with me. That's what I hugged to me when I fell. It jumped up in my arms as I let it go. I sat up as best as I could and the little Megawhatt flew around me chirping ecstatically. I chuckled despite the pain. "Your welcome." I said without thinking, then froze. "I - I could understand you." I said looking down at the alien that opted for sitting down on my knee. It nodded. "But -" I shut up when I heard noises closer to where I was. I stood up quickly and ran the opposite way of the sound when I felt a light tug on the sleeve of my black jacket, making me turn to face a distressed Megawhatt. "What -" I looked up just in time to see the gigantic robot standing in front of Ben and Rook. I gasped and ran to them, not noticing the Megawhatt in tow.

"Guys! What is that thing?" I asked, looking up wide eyed at the huge machine.

"A class-12 armor mega-suit." Answered Rook for me. I'd think it was wicked had it not been powered by Nosedeenians. "Ben, have you ever dealt with one before?" I turned to look at Ben when Rook said this. The Megawhatt was practically attached to my right leg now.

"No. How do you beat it?" Rook took on a look of surprise at Ben's question.

"Me? You could try Alien X." I glared at Rook slightly.

"Stop it." Ben said, apparently fed up with Rook's lack of faith. I just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Really Rook?" He didn't have time to retort or answer because suddenly, a dozen of red dots marked the three of us. I looked down at myself, then at Ben, then Rook and my state turned into horror as I switched my attention to the Armor Suit. It's arms stuck up, pointing at us as something came up from each arm. We ran for it when - I believe there were four - missiles were launched at us. The first three didn't hit us but the last one sent us all toppling to the ground.

"Ow! Again! Dang it..." I complained to myself until I felt myself being tugged up - literally, something pulled me up to me feet. I looked at what was attached to my arm to see the Megawhatt, pointing at the big, red Armor Suit. "You want us to help your friends, right?" It started then frantically pointing at something behind me. I craned my neck to see Rook shooting at the Armor Suit. I gasped. The Megawhatt must be worried about Rook hurting his friends.

"Rook! Rook stop shooting!" He immediately stopped and turned to look at me.

"Why?"

"You might hit the Megawhatts!" Ben and I synchronized. We stopped for a second before turning our attention to the Armor Suit - I'm surprised they haven't asked about the Megawhatt in tow.

"If we can't fight back, that does tend to make our job more difficult." I felt the Megawhatt settle on my shoulder, watching us discuss the fate of his fellow companions.

"Oh we can fight. We just have to take 'him' down without hurting the Megawhatts." I nodded, agreeing with Ben.

"In other words we need marksmanship skills here."

"That won't be easy." Rook said while Ben just smiled.

"It never is." We gasped when the Armor Suit started coming our way - shooting lasers as it went. Rook took hold of my right wrist and pulled me behind him as we covered ourselves from the lasers. I looked over to see Ben talking to the Omnitrix.

"Okay Omnitrix, no messing around." That's not weird at all. "I want Fourarms. Do you hear me? Fourarms! I don't want Grey Matter, I don't want Nanomech, Fourarms!" With that he slammed a hand to his watch and a green light surged from him. I hadn't payed much attention to his transformations - much less this close - but I have to admit, it was very mind blowing. I wonder if it hurts. I don't think he transformed into who he wanted to though because he had said 'Four'arms. This alien was like a humanoid rock with only two arms. Rook gasped though. Heh, he must know which alien it is.

"Rook? What alien is that?" He turned to answer but was interrupted when the Armor Suit slammed onto Ben. He was about to run after them when he screech to a halt and looked back at me. I I was taken aback. "What?"

"Where did that Nosedeenian attached to your leg come from?" I looked down. Indeed there it was. I frowned. I figured the little fella had gone over to help his friends.

"Um, I'll explain later. Ben needs help now." He nodded and we both took off after Ben.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed when I saw Ben, holding one hand up that had a strange glow and had the Armor Suit suspended in mid air.

"Gravity powers? Nice!" I heard Ben say before slamming the Armor Suit down hard. Rook jumped onto the suit and started trying to pry off the containers. Seeing a chance to actually help the little aliens I jumped right after him and tried the same with another one - the free Megawhatt was trying to help with the one I had in my hands.

"Ben!" I screeched when he inadvertently levitated us all in the air when he lifted his arm. I almost fell off altogether - hadn't the Megawhatt helped me up by tugging on my arm hard. Rook too yelped in surprise.

"Focus your gravitational field lower!" He yelled at Ben who looked embarrassed and lowered his hand. "Ah!" We yelled when he set us down roughly. Luckily enough one of the containers popped right out. I grinned. Yes!

"Oh dear." I turned to look at whatever had caused Rook to say that before being shoved out of a laser's way by the Megawhatt. It hit Rook though, sending him flying through the air.

"Rook!" Once again Ben and I yelled at the same time. Weird. I still ran full speed to the fallen alien. Ben was there when I reached them.

"Rook, come on partner." He was roughly taken away by the Armor Suit and thrown back. I tried to climb up to get to Rook but it was impossible. Suddenly something tugged on my jacket before lifting me off the ground by the hood.

"Hey! Wha-?" When I was gently put next to Rook the Megawhatt floated in front of me. I smiled. "Thanks." Then I kneeled next to Rook.

"Rook? Rook! Wake up!" I shook his shoulder a few times, feeling panic settle in when I got no response. I tried to turn him over so I could see if he had any actual damage. Dang! He was heavier than he looked! As I turned him around I remember what they had told me. Proto-tech armor. Very resistant. He was probably just knocked out or shocked. "Rook!" I both his shoulders now, leaning over him to see if he moved. Finally he winced. I sighed with relief and leaned back. He was okay.

"What-? Where is the Armor?" Was the first thing he asked when he sat up.

"You okay Rook?" I asked him, frowning and ignoring his question.

"I am alrig - Rose! Are you alright? Did you-?"

"I didn't get hit. I dodged. Sort of. We should probably help Ben though." We turned to see the Armor beating the heck out of said teenage boy.

"Let's go." He dragged me down with him. Catching me when we landed and quickly setting me down. I yelped as he did this since I didn't like being carried.

Rook took one of those construction vehicles and managed to slam the Armor Suit hard, getting him off of Ben and giving the poor guy a breather.

"Your welcome." He said to Ben who laid on the ground, surprised at having been saved. I giggled. Pay back felt good. I turned my attention when the Suit came back for around round.

"Weak." Pfft. Says who went through a roof. Dumb dude.

"Ben! I think I can separate the Megawhatts from the suit!" I looked at him as he transformed his weapon into a bow. That thing has everything, doesn't it? "But it will be a difficult shot. Try to get the Suit to stop moving." He started climbing up something but I didn't see what, my attention was now fully on Ben and the Armor. I just laughed and put my arms on my elbow as I watched Ben dunk the Suit into the water numerous times. This was fun!

"Rook! I got it to stop moving!" I craned my neck up see Rook take a deep breath before aiming and shooting. He effectively took out all of the containers, freeing the Megawhatts.

"Yes!" I pumped my fist high in the air in victory and then ran over to Ben. "You guys did it!" Victory was short lived. The Suit suddenly fired a ton of missiles. Right at Ben. With me standing next to him! "How can he have enough power left to do that?!" I screamed, docking beneath Ben, who started trying to redirect the missiles around, almost stepping on me in the process. "Ben! Watch it! Don't squash me!" He noticed I was beneath him.

"What the heck are you doing down there?"

"Not my fault." I quickly said trying to defend myself as I blushed. Then I noticed something. "Are those rockets 'orbiting' around you?"

"I have my own orbit? Okay, _that_ is pretty cool. I wonder...Rose, get out of here. I'm gonna try something and it's gonna be dangerous." My eyebrow twitched as I fought back a retort but ducked under the flying missiles anyways. He balled up into himself, attracting the Suit until it started orbiting around him too. Then he threw him and sent all the missiles after him. Ouch.

"I think you've had enough." After a while the Plumbers came to fix everything up and arrest Fistrick. Mmm, I need to talk to Max and the Galvans about what happened. I noticed though how Fistrick kept glaring at us darkly out of the corner of his eye. Feeling uneasy I turned my attention when Max said something about the Megawhatts helping a place called Undertown.

"Since when?" Asked Ben raising an eyebrow.

"Since now." Max said pointing at the large container that held loads of Megawhatts. I watched with a smile as a plumber grabbed one of then gently and tickled the tickled guy who playfully slapped the hand away and walked into the container. Hey...that reminds me...I started looking around for the one that kept following me. "Well Rose, it looks like somebody took a liking to you." I looked up to see Max pointing down at my leg. Indeed there was the Megawhatt, hanging on for his life to my loose pants.

"Hey, how come that little guy's sticking to you like glue?" Ben said as he crouched down to look at the alien.

"Yeah...uh that's something we gotta talk about." I said scratching the top of my head and looking at Max uneasily.

"Don't worry, we'll talk when we get back Rose." I nodded, satisfied that I at least informed 'sort of' what was happening then bent down and grabbed the Megawhatt, detaching him from my leg and placing him in front of me.

"Hey little fella. Don't you wanna go with your friends?" I pointed a finger over my shoulder at the others. He shook his head and flew up to land on my head. "You want to stay with me?" I asked in bewilderment. He just nodded. Why would a Megawhatt want to stay with me? "Why?" He started chirping and squeaking, moving his little hands about. "Oh, well...I need to ask Max...but on the meantime I guess you can hang around us." It chirped excitedly and bounce up and down on my head. "Hehe..." I tickled his belly and he tried to push my finger away, then almost fell off my head and instead landed on my shoulder.

"The Tennyson legends usually end with some sort blended beverage?" I'm not sure if Rook said, or asked that, anyways I looked at Ben.

"Smoothies? They're more of a daytime thing. At night, it's chili fries!" He walked towards the car raising a finger in the air as if to make his point. I saw Rook's face visibly twist.

"Egh, okay." He sounded very reluctant. What was wrong with chili fries?

"What? You don't like chili fries?" I asked, walking beside him as the Megawhatt played with my now messy hair - the "curls" I had were all over the place. I'm sure my face looked worse.

"I do not like the idea of such unhealthy food." My eyebrows shot up.

"Oh...I get it! So you're the really healthy type huh?" We climbed onto the vehicle.

"I prefer to consume fruits and other healthy food, yes." I nodded sitting down between Ben and Rook. I didn't notice the Megawhatt zap Ben when his elbow accidentally bumped him until he yelped.

"Hey! What the heck is that Megawhatt doing in here?" He asked glaring slightly at the new little addition to the vehicle.

"He kind of wants to stay with me - I have to ask your grandpa about it though." As I said this I patted the top of his head.

"So were picking up strays." Ben gave a smirk, which only brought on angry chirps from the Megawhatt.

"You should be glad he's not zapping away after that comment." I said, glaring at said boy.

"By the way Rose, you never did explain how that Megawhatt got out." Thanks for reminding me Rook...

"Ok well, remember when your grandpa said that there could be side effects? Well..."

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**R&R! **


	3. Chapter 3

**"The world is wrong side up. It needs to be turned upside down in order to be right side up."**

** ~ Billy Sunday**

**_Kira Sema_: Thank you for yor review. Do not take my comment personal about the story - or anyone for that matter. I'm not saying the stories are bad or badly written, just that I wanted to have a little change. That is all. I will check out your stories too as soon as I can.**

**_GoldGuandian2418_: Thank you for your review. I will try to keep posting chapters as often as I can. I'm kind of doing them as I watch the episodes so I don't lose any inspiration or perspective so take that in mind if you see no update for a few days - plus I have two nagging parents that don't like me spending too much time on my iPod or computer so I have to sneak around so I can write them ;)**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OC Rosalinda._**

**No flames. Read & Review!**

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Chapter 3: I'm Still Normal...Right?

"I don't understand! How come you can't do it now! I think she's bluffing!" I huffed and crossed my arms when Driba practically called me a liar. It's was _not _my fault that I couldn't do again what I had when I freed the Megawhatt.

"It's the truth! Ask Kúai! He knows!" Both Driba and Blukic raised a brow.

"Who's that?" I pointed to my right to answer Blukic's question. There sitting on a small table was the little Megawhatt. Who was by the way, being _restrained_. Yeah, that's right. They didn't trust him nor me.

"I couldn't keep calling him Megawhatt or Nosedeenian. So I gave him a name." I had asked him if he had one but he just said he wanted me to make up one - for him of course.

"What kind of _name_ is _that?_" Kúai only glowered at the dumb, fatty genius. More like an idiotic brainiac.

"It's in Chinese - it means 'fast'." I explained, rolling my eyes when they looked at each other and went all "Ooh...". Seriously, why did they hire these two? I'm pretty sure that a human could do their job just as efficiently - if not better.

"Yeah. So...is it normal?" This must be the hundredth time I ask and I don't care. I wanted answers and they were the only two aliens in this entire facility who seemed to either lack them or had little cooperation with me.

"Certainly not! If it is true..." He muttered the last part to Blukic but Driba isn't good at being subtle. I drew in a beep breath to keep from yelling at him.

"What do you mean? Max said that I could have all sorts of side effects from the blue stuff! Speaking of which, has anybody figured out what it is?" I went to stand from the medical table I had been sitting on but Driba rushed to me.

"No! Don't get up! We are not finished running the tests on you, you ignorant girl!" Oh yeah, I'm the ignorant one huh? Besides, his burning out that loving nickname of his.

"So you haven't." I sat back down.

"Haven't what?" I sighed, irritated with the Galvan's behavior. Blukic wasn't any better but Driba's superior arrogance drove me nuts!

"Where did the blue substance come from? Why did that weird alien have it? What type of alien was it? Why did my body absorb it? Why did I go through solid matter and levitate off the ground? And why can I understand Kúai perfectly?" They blinked at the barricade of questions I sent.

"Rose-say-what-now?" I slapped my own forehead when Blukic said that.

"Have you found anything about my anomaly?" Realization fell on their faces.

"Well of course not! Though we did discover the planet where it came from." I looked down disappointed.

"Oh..." Then I snapped my head up, "Wait! That's good!" I looked at them, a huge smile on my face. "Well? What planet is it from?"

"That's the thing; it's Nerydyn. That planet is more than a thousand stellar-cycles old and twice as far away from this galaxy!"

"So...what's wrong with that?" Maybe I'm just a little worried and desperate today.

"To get into communication with the Nerydyjans is more than complicated. S'not gonna be easy to contact them - but Magister Tennyson figures that once they know that something of theirs was stolen and that we stopped the guy who stole it, they'll probably help ya out with yer little predicament." I nodded, processing all of the information Blukic told me, then sighed with relief.

"We're still one step closer to finding a way to get this thing out of me." They nodded and then I decided to ask about my missing companions - well they aren't my companions but I haven't seen either of them all day and it's kind of fun to be around them. "So, where are Rook and Ben?" I once again started off the table when -

"Stop that Rose! You need to stay here until Magister Tennyson or another Plumber checks the results of the tests!" When the two Galvans started to walk away I yelled at them.

"H-hey! You can't just leave me here! And where are they?"

"Ben's the reason why we have to leave. He'll be helping us in repairing some machinery. As for Rook he's either training or helping out somewhere in the headquarters." I nodded.

"But when can I-?" The door closed. I glared holes at it. "...go." I sighed until some chirping came from my side. Sneaking over to him I freed him of his restrains.

"Max won't be alarmed at having you roam around as long as you don't break anything or cause any trouble." He nodded, then snuggled up to me. I giggled slightly and patted him on the back - his response being a series of chirps and laughter. "Mmm...I know Max already said 'Yes.', but we need to find a way to help others know it's you." I looked around the room we were in while he only cocked his head at me. "Aha!" I exclaimed, jumping off the table with Kúai floating behind me. I grabbed a sky blue ribbon then proceeded to wrap it around his tiny body. He stood still and then looked down at himself when I was finished. It looked like a sash that crossed his body. "Well, what do you think?" He only nodded happily. I sighed. I ended up spending the next thirty minutes walking around the room and tinkering with the medical tools I found around. Just as I picked up a saw-type of tool, the door opened. I gasped and suddenly it went right though my hand, clattering hard against the tiled floor.

"Oops." I said sheepishly then turned around to find red irises staring at the tool I let fall - or better say that went through me.

"You should be resting Rose." He said, a reprimanding look on his face. I shrugged as I went to sit back down on my spot.

"I got bored and those dumb Galvans left me here alone - save for you Kúai." I quickly added the last part as said Megawhatt crossed his arms at me, obviously annoyed at the thought of being forgotten.

"Kúai?" Rook raised a brow as he started looking through some files that were left on a table. Were those the results? Was Rook sent here for them?

"Means 'fast' in Chinese." He nodded at the explanation before frowning down at the papers. "What is it?" I said, stretching myself forward slightly, then stopping when my foot slipped and I almost fell.

"There was definitely a spike in your current power supply. I believe you were telling the truth about what happened when we were engaged in fight with Fistrick." I sighed with relief.

"Finally, someone who believes me!"

"However..." I snapped my head up. Aw man... "...it is very unlikely for a human to withstand the immense power the substance contains within itself." I blinked up at him - you know I never thought about it but he must be like a head taller than me or more.

"But I'm still normal...right?" I asked, hope fading from my voice.

"Hardly." You know, Rook can be so polite at times that he surprises you with his sudden blunt and bold moments.

"Gee, thanks for softening that up for me." I said putting both my cheeks in my hands and resting my elbows on my knees.

"It is not bad, on the contrary, if you learned to control these new abilities of yours they could be of great use during battle."

"Yeah, yeah...control my powers for...for what?!" I looked up at him, wide eyed.

"Battle. Magister Tennyson believes it is best if you join me and Ben." I shook my head to snap out of my stupor.

"Rook...I've never fought in my life...I think you guys are looking at this the wrong way. Besides, why add me up? It's not like you guys need the help."

"All you need is some training, that is all. As for why he decided this, perhaps it is simply a way to help you cope with the changes you are going through." I crossed my arms.

"Oh yeah? And who'd train me then?" I'm probably the clumsiest, most weakest and uncoordinated creature there is in this entire universe. Nobody could be stupid enough to actually -

"That would be me." Uh...that's not what I had expected. I looked at Rook. Me? Training with him? ...Somehow that doesn't sound like a good mix up.

"Why would you want to train me? It would be like trying to teach a cow how to fly." He raised a nonexistent eyebrow at the last comment. Oops. Forgot, Rook isn't used to those kind of phrases.

"But cows do not fly by nature."

"Exactly! I literally wasn't born to fight." I huffed and looked down at the floor. Then I felt a nudge come from my leg. "What? It's true." I tried to argue with Kúai but the little guy only shook his head at me.

"I do not mind teaching you Rose - I have always wanted to have someone that actually listens to my advice." I raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Why is it that for some reason I think you're referring to Ben?" He sighed. Gotcha. I guess Ben takes more to his Omnitrix than actual training.

"I just believe that he should try real hand-to-hand combat instead of relying on his Omnitrix all of the time." I pursued my lips when he said that. It is true...yet...

"Well it is true...but at the same time, you have to remember that he actually needs to master the Omnitrix in order to use it well and stop others from taking it in the first place." He came over to stand next to me.

"So what you are saying is that it is good that he does not practice his skills."

"No! It's the opposite! He needs to practice his skills with his Omnitrix! I mean, haven't you noticed that he hasn't quite got the hang of it?"

"Yes, I have noticed. Many times already it has happened."

"See? I'm not saying that he shouldn't train for real - because he definitely should - but he does need to put more emphasis on his device. Okay...I can't believe I'm putting myself as an example..." I muttered that last part, "It's like me with these...strange abilities; I would obviously need to train first because even if I master them I wouldn't be able to use them properly because of my physical limitations - still, I'd need to focus on adding my abilities to my skills so I can get more used to them." Rook stayed quiet the whole time as he listened to me. Even in this high table and he still looks a bit taller than me.

"Good point." Whew, I think I convinced him, "Though I still think he should train some more." I smiled tiredly.

"Who knows, maybe one of these days he'll actually start to rely more on himself and less on his Omnitrix." I said putting a hand on his armor clad shoulder. It was pretty smooth against my small hand.

"Perhaps." He smiled down at me. I couldn't help myself as I felt a smile of my own tugging at the corners of my mouth. You know...those pointed, purple ears of his are actually kind of cute from this angle...

"Rook! Rose!" My head snapped to the door that led into this room when Ben's voice came from outside. I looked at Rook before running to the door with him. We ran outside just in time to see Ben heading our way, smoke coming from his figure.

"What happened to you?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"Galvans. That's what happened. Come on let's go. I could really use some smoothies right now." Oh. That's right a smoothie. We drove all the way there but halfway I just had to ask.

"So...why do you like those smoothies so much Ben?"

"They're the best of the best Rose! I bet they're better than any you've ever tried!" I had to scratch behind my neck on that one.

"Actually...I've never tried a smoothie before." His eyes bugged out.

"What?!" I covered my ear quickly, flinching away from Ben and knocking into Rook slightly. "Oh you are so trying one now! I mean...how can you have never tried a smoothie before?" I shrugged.

"Look, I've eaten tons of greasy, typical american food like burgers, hot dogs, and all of that stuff. But I'm Hispanic! I've tried things you have probably never even seen before like alcapurria, lechón, arroz con habichuela, pastelillos, bacalao, ñame, yuca..." I looked at Ben when his expression went blank.

"Huh?"

"Exactly."

"Well, don't take this the wrong way Rose, but you don't really have the whole Hispanic vibe." I felt a nerve twitch.

"What are you now? Gonna read my palm too? Let me guess, it's because I'm not tanned, isn't it?"

"That and you don't have an accent."

"Not all Hispanics have one - I learned English on my own when I was little just by watching TV. Stop stereotyping us Ben, we're all different from one another in different ways.."

"Really? How old?" I turned to Rook who was the one that asked.

"From five to seven." His eyes widened a fraction.

"That is impressive." I bit my lip and felt my face and ears heat up. Nobody has ever told me that - besides my mom that is.

"So basically you were a brainy when you were little." I glared at Ben.

"No, just weird." He raised an eyebrow and scrunched his face up.

"What does that mean? Cuz there are many types of weird."

"I mean, weird as in; other girls would ask for dolls for Christmas, I asked for a telescope and a microscope. Other girls would be interested in painting their nails and gossiping but I'd spend ours obsessing over planets and different types of rocks and minerals. I was just plain weird back then." And why the heck did I just say that to the one guy that will tease me about it?

"So basically, you were a nerd." I glared at him again.

"Doesn't matter, elementary school sucked but once my mom and dad got me into this special school for middle and high school I realized that I hated math and that there were a lot of people weirded than me."

"What kind of school did you get into?"

"Specialized in Mathematics and Sciences. Meaning that I took two classes of Math and two of Science - by the way, I suck at Pre-Calculus and Calculus." Ben looked like he was about to gag.

"Aw dude! Why would you take two of each?"

"You already took Calculus? I though Earthlings began that course once out of high school."

"Um, I had great friends Ben, that's the reason why I didn't leave the school. Rook, yes I did take it - but I was terrible, I already forgot all of it." Liar liar, pants on fire. Yes, I was terrible but I haven't forgotten about everything.

"Still, it is quite a feat." I smiled. I still blushed.

"Thanks. Feels nice to hear compliments instead of teasing." I glared at Ben out of the corner of my eyes.

"What? Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad." I sighed.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. Happens all the time."

"So...smoothie?" I grinned.

"Why not?"

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_Trivias: I did look for the traduction and "Kúai" does mean fast in Chinese._

_ : The Planet Nerydyn is totally made up by me therefore it's technically mine - so don't try to Goolgle it up or something. AND...I don't think it's really that great but if anyone wishes to use it - even just as reference - you must ask me first. Same goes for Nerydyjans - which are also made up btw. :)_

**R&R! **


	4. Chapter 4

**"O! Let me not be mad, not mad, sewer heaven; keep me in temper; I would not be mad!"****  
**

** ~ William Shakespeare**

**_Kira Sema_: Thank you for your review, we'll see if she ends up with him or not. ;)**

**_Anna_: Thank you for your review, I'm glad you liked it. :)**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OC Rosalinda.**_

**No flames. Read and Review!**

* * *

**_Chapter 4: Alien Activist? I'm in!_**

Ever since that talk with Rook he really took it seriously. I mean it. I haven't slept in late for three days - that's a record for me. Whenever I don't have school I tend to sleep until midday or even noon if I'm feeling extra lazy. I guess that's my biggest flaw. I'm not a morning person and I don't think I ever will be. That's what I told Rook. He didn't listen.

"Rose. Rose it's time for training." He had started to shake me when I didn't answer him. All I did was push his hands away, turn the opposite way and cover my head with the blankets. "Rose we must begin with your training."

"Mmmghbmmm." I had actually said '5 more minutes' but the pillow muffled it up.

"What?"

"Five...more minutes..." I heard a sigh come from Rook.

"Very well." I honestly thought he would try to get me out but he actually left. Ten minutes later and I was literally yanked out of the bed only to be held upside down.

"H-hey!" I found myself face to face with a weird black alien with only one eye.

"Rook said he'd give you 'five more minutes'. Honestly, he may fall for that, but I won't." Then he raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you look weird without your glasses." I crossed my arms, my hair was touching the floor despite being a foot or more off the ground.

"Likewise, you're not exactly yourself in that form either you know." He narrowed his - eh, his eye at me.

"So it was you who got Rook to be even more persistent about me training huh?" I raised a brow, then yawned.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He brought me closer to his face.

"You were the one that made Rook give us training!" Even though I was half asleep I remembered what he was talking about.

"Oh...yeah, no. You've got it wrong. I actually opted for you to use your Omnitrix Ben." He parted from my face and gave me a quizzical look.

"Then why is he making me train - and you?"

"Me? Because I apparently need to control my abilities and all that. You? You're the wielder of the Omnitrix, you have to train whether you like it or not." He was about to say something else but I interrupted, "- and could you please put me down now? My blood is rushing to my head." He let me go, dropping me back onto my bed - thank God, I would've killed him if he dropped me on the floor.

"Fine, whatever." He transformed back into his human self before walking out. I was about to lie back down but his head popped inside. " - and get up, you'll miss Rook's training session and breakfast."

Honestly? Up till today I think I could afford missing both. My muscles have been aching like mad. From my arms to my wrists; from my neck to my shoulders; from my back to my hips; from my legs to my ankles. Everything. I couldn't walk up stairs, run; not even change the channel on TV remote. At first he had tried going straight into teaching me different defense techniques, but after seeing how unprepared my muscles were for the exerting exercises he decided to start even more basic: Building muscle. Worst. Idea. Ever. He made me run a gazillion laps, push ups, sit ups and many other 'ups'. I don't know, I've just never been a fan of sports and pretty much never did anything sport or exercise related. I'm a half-artist, half-book worm. I'm not a fighter. Yet no matter how many times I tell him this he seems bent on taking me as his student - so to speak. Personally, I just think that since Ben won't cooperate, he's looking for somebody who will - and since I'm the type of person that doesn't say 'no' on a constant basis, I was easy to get to.

"I believe we are ready to start with actual fighting techniques, do you believe so Rose?" I almost didn't answer him. Today, he woke me up an hour earlier. Sure, I was doing much better than when we started, but let's face it; I'm not nearly as strong as he is. Even though I got really cold inside the Plumbers' HQ Rook's exercises made me work up a good sweat, so I opted for a green tank top and some cargo shorts - not my typical dress code but nobody really cared what I wore around here and the only one who ever saw me was Rook so I didn't care myself. That and with my hair being so long it started to get in the way so I tied it up into a long, high ponytail; a headband getting my bangs out of the way. I was going to use my convers but Rook went on about how I should depend on my own body before going into using any weapons at all. Apparently, shoes add weight and strength so I was left barefoot. My watch was left with Kúai in my room where I told him not to let anybody near it. As for my glasses I had to place them aside for the mean time. I now laid on the floor, trying to catch my breath.

"Sure thing...when I can feel my legs and arms again..." I panted out, focusing on a single spot on the ceiling as I tried to bring my breathing to a more steady pace.

"It was not that bad Rose."

"What? The exercises or how I did them."

"Both." Figures. I needed some way out of this...

"Say uh...where's Ben?" Changing topic. Maybe it won't work with Rook. Turns out that Ben was in this underground, secret alien city. I don't get what he was doing in the first place but somehow...I managed to tag along.

...

"Tell me again why you're coming with me?" Ben asked as we walked side by side through the foreign stores.

"Avoiding Rook's training session." He looked surprised for a minute while I gazed at the unfamiliar alien races all around me. I was getting better at identifying them but I mostly knew the ones in Ben's Omnitrix.

"I can't believe he actually bought that you wanted to get more experience by following me around!" He laughed.

"I didn't say it like that but it still beats either being stuck in HQ or training with Rook. It's not that he's a bad guy or anything...my body just can't take so much workout." A constant pain in my right hip and entire back were reminders of this.

"Yeah well, just stay close by - but don't try to interfere, okay?"

"Still going for the whole 'solo' thing?" I asked yawning.

"No. It's just that gramps would kill me if I got you hurt." I looked at him with sleepy eyes.

"It's not like you have to babysit me, you jerk." I muttered. He inched away slightly, putting his hands up in a defensive position.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to offend you there Rosy." I blinked, then sighed, rubbing behind my sore neck.

"First: Don't call me that, ok? Second: I'm sorry too. The combination of waking up early and muscle cramps has me in a really foul mood." I stuck my hands into the pockets of my jacket as I said this, yawning again.

"Not a morning person?" I shook my head, long bangs swaying back and forth.

"Nope. I don't think I ever will be."

After that Ben had a wrestling match with an alien. I wasn't really interested so instead I looked at the different things they sold there. That is until some magician-looking, green alien appeared out of nowhere. I don't like the way he's looking at me.

"Well! Hello there young lady! Why, how old are you?" I eyed him weirdly. Pedo alert. Pedo alert.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked carefully.

"Oh! Hoho, do not be afraid my dear, I am simply looking forward to making 'you' one of 'my' customers." I looked behind me. Ben was still pretty busy...eh, why not?

"Seventeen." He gasped dramatically and frankly, I looked around me to make sure he hadn't called anyone's attention. Though I think that's what he was trying to do.

"My, my! Well, I believe I do have what you need!" I stepped back. This weirdo was starting to creep me out more than I'd admit.

"Need? For what?"

"A girl your age should already look like a matured young lady, whereas you still possess the body of a twelve year old!" My cheeks flamed up and I felt my ears burn with embarrassment, anger and disbelief. That's why he wanted to know my age! I know I'm flat chested! He didn't need to rub it in my face like that!

"D-did you just -?!"

"Voila! Professor Blarney T. Hokestar's Magic Elixir! It should solve your problem in no time!" My eye twitched, my hands fisted tightly and my teeth gritted together inside my tightly shut mouth.

"A-ah miss -" I didn't notice at first but my fists were brightly glowing the same blue from before, pure energy crackling in my hands and up my arms. "Never mind! I-I was never here! Forget what you saw! I am a figment of your imagina - ahh!" I subconsciously fired the blue energy on my hands after him. Why the nerve of that - that - wait...I shot my head up.

"Oh boy..." I squeaked out and gulped, then inched away from the mess I had created out of one of the stands. So I actually could fire energy...uh beams? They weren't spheres, that's for sure. Sigh. Back to the Galvans...though truth be told, how's that any better? Okay...so far it's been: Flying, Phasing through solid objects and Energy Beams. Great...I'm Super Girl...

I took out my cellphone and tried to contact Max's line. He told me that every time something strange regarding the substance occurred that I was to inform his as soon as possible.

"Plumber's Headquarters." I was surprised at the familiar voice.

"Rook?"

"Yes Rose, what is it?" I shook my head.

"Uh...is um, Magister Tennyson there?" Formalities, just in case.

"I am afraid he is slightly busy at the moment. Do you wish to deliver a message?" I raised a brow. Should I tell Rook? Eh, he'd end up knowing anyways.

"Yeah. He told me that if anything regarding the Nerydyn substance happened that I was supposed to tell him as quick as possible. Some clown down here was very rude, got me angry...and I sort of shot down two - no, three food stands."

"Really? What about Ben?"

"Oh, he's doing his job. I just got approached by the clown and it surprised me."

"That is good to know." He sounded pensive.

"What? That Ben's doing what he's supposed to?" I tried to suppress a grin but it came out anyways.

"No. That your powers are controlled by your emotions." Right, I forgot that sarcasm and Rook aren't very close to one another.

"What are you talking about? My emotions aren't linked to this." I said as I evaded a chunk of wood that flew at my head - courtesy of Ben.

"Think about it Rose; What about when you helped the Megawhatt?"

"His name is Kúai and I told you, it was just because I thought about it."

"At first I believed that was the case - seeing as there was no other explanation. But...in base of what you just told me it is possible for that theory to be proved."

"Like...?"

"For example: When you concentrate and feel determination you can bring forth the energy. You said that with the Mega- Kúai incident, before you flew or phased through solid matter your hands glowed with the substance's color. Right now, didn't that just happen?"

"Good point. Go on."

"Well, I believe that depending on your emotions is how you will end up manifesting the energy. When you phased through the container you mentioned being afraid of the height; perhaps fear is the source of your molecules' density lessening, enabling you to literally go right through anything solid. Consider a type of defense mechanism your body produces when you feel endangered by something or someone." My eyebrows shot up.

"Sounds easy enough." I said sarcastically as I gave a laugh at the thought. Seriously, being afraid isn't gonna be hard. Especially with so many unknown things surrounding my entire life - and growing in quantity.

"When you felt anger -"

" - and embarrassment." I added, feeling my face grow warm again.

"Embarrassment? You never told me that."

"...Yeah, Rook: that was 'because' I was embarrassed about it in the first place."

"What happened then?" I froze.

"Um...I'd rather not talk about it."

"Very well then, anger is more powerful than embarrassment in any way so I believe anger was the main source." I nodded, then remembering that he could see it I made a small noise to let him know that I was listening. "As for your small flight or levitation...what 'did' you feel when that happened?" I thought back to the moment hard. Mmm...I was angry too. Mad about the caged up Megawhatts.

"It was pretty much anger too...you know at Fistrick for being such a closed up jerk and caging up the poor Megawhatts." There was silence for a second or two before he answered.

"Then it was more of a...sense of freedom?" I scrunched up my face in thought.

"That's not really an emotion...at least from what I know. Well, maybe feeling free is one. I mean, a lot of people associate flight with freedom so it has a bit of logic." I froze suddenly. Realization of what this truly meant for me sinking in and hitting me like a sucker punch to the stomach.

"Wait...Rook, does this...does this mean that now I actually have to 'control' my emotions to control my powers?" I asked, fear ebbing my voice. Since when did I call them 'my' powers anyways?

"I am afraid so Rose. Otherwise they would be sent spiraling out of control." I leaned back against a wooden surface and slid down. "Rose? Are you there?" I shook my head to snap myself out of my trance.

"Uh...yeah. I'll call back later okay? Ben seems to have his hands full." Not waiting for an answer I slowly clicked shut the cellphone, then continued to lay there. This was not good. My life...has officially been ruined in more ways than anybody could imagine. If I ever lose control of my emotions I could actually end up hurting someone. With this thought I craned my head to look at the destruction I had caused. Clumsy just took on a whole new level and meaning.

"Hey." I looked up slowly to see green eyes staring down at mine. He frowned, taken aback from my sudden, depressive state. "What's got you so bummed?" He asked as I looked back down and stared at my dirty vans.

"Nothing..." I muttered, then stood up with my hands in my pockets. He still looked at me, like he was unconvinced.

"Hey, if there's -" He looked to the side suddenly.

"What?" I asked, raising a brow at him.

"Uh...come on, let's talk somewhere else. There's a nut job over there that's making me feel uneasy." I went to follow when I caught sight of the "nut job". That...green...alien...that insulted me...

"H-hey! Rose! Where are you going?" I didn't bother to answer to Ben. I was mad - no enraged. Not only had he openly insulted me, then had the guys to try and sell me some junk - thanks to him I had developed another stinking ability I didn't need!

"Hey! Don't think I haven't forgotten you, you -" I had interrupted his rant about a little bottle he had - the same one he had shown me - and pointed my hand and finger at him. My eyes widened when my entire hand was surrounded by a blue glow before I accidentally fired a blast of energy right at his head. The energy...it was amazing how it ha crackled on my hand - almost like electricity would. With a yelp he ducked down, his top hat getting a hole burned right through. "...- ingrate." I finished quietly, staring worriedly at the hole in a building I had just created. It was quiet for a few, painful moments, but then all of a sudden loud cheers and whoops started sounding through the uh, audience...I think.

"Yeah!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Way to go girlie!"

"Finally! 'Bout time that wacko shut his mouth!"

I lowered my arm quickly with a small squeak escaping my mouth. That had not been intentional! Okay...so maybe I did want to knock some sense into that stupid alien - but I did not want that to happen!

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"What?" I said, horrified - it came out a few octaves higher than my normal pitch.

"Wow! What was that Rose? I didn't know you could do that!" I had my hands over my mouth, eyes opened wide, when I looked sideways at Ben's huge smile filled with both amusement and shock.

"I didn't either until a few minutes ago!" I said through my hands. Suddenly the alien I had nearly blown his head off came running towards us. I glared even though I still felt horrible about the current events.

"My, my. Don't tell me you know this improper girl young lad!" I felt my chest tighten up from the immense anger I felt towards the stupid, ignorant, lying, no good piece of -!

"Woah, Rose! Cool it down will ya? You're scaring everybody off." I hadn't realized that the same blue energy had been cracking and flashing all around me; my arms and hands engulfed in the blue flame-like energy; my hair being swept up with small flashes going through; my eyes even felt a bit hotter - were they glowing too? I instantly took a deep breath, trying my best to calm down before I took down the entire perimeter.

"_I'm_ improper? _You_ were the one that -" I closed my mouth, not wanting to say it out loud. I leaned over to Ben and whispered what the awfully stupid Professor Blah Blah had done before he showed up. His eyes grew wider with every word and my ace grew hotter.

"You _what?!"_ He yelled, getting up to the alien's face, practically nose to nose. I blinked. "Dude! That - the - uh, don't you know that's one of the things you should _never_, ever in your life say to a girl?" He seemed almost as flushed as me. The Professor Blah started backing up and coughing.

"Uh, yes, yes. Why, of course. I was simply, you know, putting a harmless example." I gaped at him.

"Harmless? You call '_insulting_' harmless?" When he looked at me he instantly grew more nervous. Heh. Guess I caused quite an impression on him.

"You know Rose, it's like they say: 'There's one born every minute.'" I nodded and we both started to walk away from him. He followed. I almost felt a twitch in my fingers. Cool it Rose...don't wanna cause an accident...

"Why, there's nothing I like more than a young, headstrong teen of a challenge! Perhaps I could change your mind?" I crossed my arms and stood on the other side of Ben. I simply did not like the stupid Professor after what he said.

What happened next I would've never expected. Ben actually...agreed to be a sponsor for the Baloney Professor in exchange of a fat and ugly action figure from something called, "Sumo Slammer". I wanted to kill him for that.

"You're not _actually_ gonna do it, are you?" I asked as he eyed the toy. It was so weird to see him so psyched about it - it's how you would expect a total gamer to react. Mmm, maybe he is a gamer.

"Eh...I don't know. He seems harmless enou-" He turned to look at my deadpan expression and smiled nervously. "I mean...let me just call Rook and then we'll see, okay?" I sighed and nodded. He proceeded to call Rook. I kept staring at my hands all the while. Maybe I could control this. I mean, when I pointed it seemed to have been more centered and focused. Not at all like the first, raging atomic ball of energy I let out. So far that's the only dangerous trait about me. I hope there are no more surprises to come...

"- intergalactic flimflam. The Plumbers don't consider him a threat, why do you ask?" Intergalactic flimflam? I bursted with laughter at that moment. Ben stared at me with a raised eyebrow and a look that clearly said "what the heck is wrong with you?".

"Sorry, couldn't help myself. I don't like the guy." Ben nodded as he remembered my grudge against him.

"Right...cause he called you-" I slapped my hand over his mouth before it could slip out. He seemed annoyed by this.

"Don't you dare." I gave him somewhat of a glare - as much as I can mange - and surprisingly enough he seemed scared.

"Didn't say a thing."

"Ben? Rose?" We heard Rook trying to get our attention.

"Oh right, well...it's a long story, we ran into him. Okay, I guess it's not that long." He eyed the toy in his hand warily while I eyed him instead.

"Yeah and he's a total jerk." I added grumpily.

"Should you need back up -"

"- we promise we'll call you back. Later." With that he hung up on Rook.

"That's not nice." I said after he hung up abruptly.

"What? I didn't do anything bad!"

"Whatever Ben...let's just get out of here." I turned around, completely intent on heading to Ben's car...when I bumped into something large. I had to crane my neck up to see what I had ran into. Ben was right beside me, looking warily and surprised at what appeared to be...another green alien but with a strange attire.

"Ben Tennyson! I've been looking for you!" We both backed up as the creature said this, Ben readying his hand over the Omnitrix.

"Well, you found me." He leaned forward slightly to look at the both of us. Now that I see better, while he has some glasses that resembled 3D ones, he only had one eye. I saw a peace sign on his, eh shirt.

"You're that guy that turns into different aliens, right dude? Saving the universe is your thing!" He said and I have to admit that those sandals look comfy.

"Aha?" Ben said to let him know that he could go on.

"Then you of all people should care that Hokestar is holding a poor harmless alien hostage!" As he said this I saw a bit of anger in his eyes - sorry, eye.

"Wait? He is? That no good barnacle brain holds alien hostages?" I asked, not believing that just a few minutes ago I had been crazily angered by that same alien.

"That's right lil dudette! He's keeping it under poor conditions and milking it for that so called 'Professor's Miracle Elixir' man!" I raised my eyebrows at this.

"Did you just say milking?" Both me and Ben said at the same time, then looked at each other.

"Okay, that's just starting to get plain creepy."

…

"This place looks like a mini-factory." I commented as we neared the place where the alien was being held captive.

"Couldn't have put it better lil dudette." I glanced at Pax, who had dragged me and Ben here. He introduced himself on the way.

Ben knocked a few times on the door and called out to the Professor but nobody answered.

"Nobody here. Guess we'll have to come back later." I shrugged and followed after Ben until Pax called us. You know...I wonder why he puts his legs like that. Because he has four but puts them together to apparent only two. Maybe he's self-conscious.

"Duude! You just can't give up now!" I turned to him.

"And why's that?"

"There's a poor creature held captive in there that needs our help! Like right now!" He said trying to convince us further. Ben seemed to reconsider it before turning the Omnitrix.

"You'd better be right." He muttered with a long face as he turned into Spidermonkey and climbed up the door.

"Sweet man." I glanced at Pax for a moment before looking up at Ben who had his arm stuck inside a small hole. He seemed to be in a slight distress.

"Need some help Ben?" He let out a few grunts.

"I'm...stuck!" He started jumping up and down in a lame attempt to free himself. I slapped my forehead.

"Oh great...hold on!" I walked over, closed my eyes and tried to focus on levitating. "Eek! Still not used to this!" I was rapidly lifted off the ground. When I neared Ben I grabbed hold of his furry waist and tugged as hard as I could to yank him out.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! That hurts Rose!" I braced both of my feet on the hard surface and tried again, ignoring Ben's complaints. Finally, he came loose but since I had lost my focus we started falling to the ground. I landed on Pax's outstretched, green arms - whereas Ben was out of reach so he fell face first on the ground.

"Thanks." I said as he set me down while giving an apology to Ben for not catching him. His hands covered my entire back and legs - why is it that every time I meet a new alien I feel even smaller?

"No sweat lil dudette."

I turned my attention to the task at hand and pursued my lips in thought.

"Hey Ben, I think I can go through this with no problem." He sat up immediately after many, many complaints about how his back had been hurting.

"You can? Well why didn't you say so in the first place!" He threw his hands about, looking more and more like a gorilla.

"I said '_think_'. I'm not a hundred percent sure." I walked towards it and placed my palms against the cool surface, then proceeded to concentrate. Think scary thoughts Rose...lizards, snakes, frogs, deep waters - "Waahh!" I yelled as I went right through the metal door. Strange enough that now - when I'm conscious about doing it - I did get a really weird sensation. A tingling that spread all through me. It was very, very peculiar. Shaking my head I looked around for something that could open the door. Aha...there we go. I gripped the black handle, pushing it backward and watching as it opened, revealing a monkey-Ben and a very surprised looking alien. He started to approach the opening when Ben jumped in front of him. I stared at him. His monkey form looks...weirder up-close.

"We really shouldn't be in here..." He let out a few monkey sounds, "So try not to touch anything, okay?" He only nodded at Ben with a smile ever so present on his slightly stretched face. We all stared inside for a moment. There were some framed pictures on one wall. Clothes were hanging from two lines on the ceiling. There were a lot of plastic containers of all sizes. Various pieces of crumbled papers were scattered about on the smooth floor. I saw a piece of clothing that looked like a blanket or a curtain on one part of the wall with a strange mask and a boot hanging on front. Other than that, the rest were just a lot of machines, tubes and bottles that were filled with eyes, hands and I even saw a skull inside one.

"What did I tell you? This place is a horror show. Mmm, while it had a small creepy vibe that was mostly because I felt like the stupid kid that went into the killer's hideout while he was out and was very nervous about him returning.

"Eh, more like a sideshow." I had to say I agreed with Ben on that one. _Creepy_? A little bit. _Horrific_? Not a chance, especially after how he treated me.

"It sure is creepy though." Ben and I looked at each other when we synchronized...yet again!

"Seriously Ben, we need to stop doing that. But it is creepy, I'll give you that Pax."

"So where's this poor, captive creature you're so worried about." I crossed my arms when Ben sighed that out.

"Yeah, I don't see anything yet." Just like that, a hole opened up beneath me; Ben let out a startled sound as he jumped back. Me? I fell on a yellow sphere that came out. Instantly I jumped off and away from it. "Never mind, I think I just found it." I glared at Ben when he said that, to which he only shrugged.

"Meet the Screegit, one of the most endangered species in the universe." Pax did a small intro to us as we leaned closer - Ben transformed back into his human form - to a small, spiky ball. Then two, red irises made themselves known to us as the little thing lifted it's head up drowsily.

"Awww...such a cute fellow." I said with a smile as I looked at the small, chubby being. Then it stretched and yawned. D'aww!

"Awww...it's adorable! Wo's a cute wittle guy? Yesh you awre!" I looked at Ben slowly...is he actually baby talking?

"Hey man, that's not cool. Don't talk down to him." Ben scratched behind his head sheepishly.

"Sorry. What's with the energy globe?"

"This." I turned to Pax when he said that in such a serious tone. Then twelve tubes came down and attached themselves to the Screegit's uh...spines. A strange noise came from the tubes and I looked down to see...the elixir...oh now that is just plain gross...

"That's...disgusting." Ben made a face similar to the one I was making.

"Tell me about it." Suddenly Pax started fidgeting angrily and shaking his fists.

"I know right? Hokestar is using and abusing of this poor creature for profit! All of nature's creatures deserve to know what freedom looks like! Free the Screegit! Free the Screegit!" The little Screegit started to move around, looking as if it was dancing. I smiled at the cute display when suddenly...

"Freeze! You miserable miscreants!" The three of us stayed still as Hokestar stood at the entrance with a strange ray in his hands. "Move a muscle and I will blast you away." He threatened, moving forward slightly. Unfortunately he stepped on a bottle that had been carelessly thrown on the floor - possibly by him. He tripped forward and fumbled hastily with the gun while letting out a small shriek. A blast came out heading straight for me. My eyes widened and I instantly ducked. My eyes stayed closed until I felt something land on me. When I looked down and saw the green, weird stuff on me I turned around.

"Pax!" I both yelled at the same time. Oh. God. He's...he's...I froze.

"What did you just do?" Ben yelled frantically at Hokestar who seemed as shocked as we were.

"I-di-I mean I- he ran out in front of me! I didn't mean to-!" He was cut short.

"Is he regenerating himself?" I asked Ben when I saw all of the green pieces that were scattered around the entire room started shaking and then moving towards the rest of him - his legs. Ben stayed glued to the wall, beads of sweat appearing on his face out of nervousness. I was in a similar position.

"Wow...that was harsh." He picked up his glasses and started shining them out.

"My boy! I cannot begin to make amends for my accidental-"

"You can start out by apologizing for what you said earlier!" I snapped, interrupting him and poking him on the chest. He seemed surprised for a moment before recognition lighted his face.

"Ah, yes. The girl with the temper!" My eye twitched. After I tell him to apologize he says that?

"_Temper_? That was _not_ _temper_! I'll show you how temper actually looks like!" I was aware if the fact that my arms were glowing blue again - I think my eyes were too - but apparently so was Ben. He separated me from the Professor quickly.

"Woah Rose! Take it easy with the barnac- I mean Professor! And you!" He pointed back at the Professor before his eyes shifted to the gun he still held. With a panicked look he jumped back slightly,"You can start by putting that away!" Hokestar looked down and suddenly fumbled nervously with the gun, startling the three of us as me and Ben jumped back and onto Pax who too shielded his face before the gun was thrown out.

"Yes, now, if I may be so bold, what precisely are you thr-" He glanced at me nervously, to which I just raised a brow, "two rapscallions doing on my ship in the first place?"

"You know perfectly well who I am and what I'm doing here." Pax pushed forward and looked seriously at Hokestar. Said 'professor' looked both ways in a nervous manner.

"Eh...refresh my memory."

"I'm Pax. Alien Rights Activist."

* * *

**Merry Xmas eveybody! :3 I already said it but I don't care ;) the morethe merrier!**

**_R&R!_**

**=^.^=**


	5. Chapter 5

**"I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them."**

**~ Oscar Wilde**

**_jakevoronkov1: _****Thank you for your review :) I had been thinking a lot about how to introduce Rosalinda to the Plumbers and honestly that was the one part of writing this story that really threw me for a loop, so I'm glad you thought it was a good start.**

**_GoldenGuardian2418: _Thank you for your review! Yes, Blukic and Driba can be a total pain in the ass. The fact that they have you a headache tells me that I managed to keep them in character xD I was worried about making them OOC. Yeah I know Ben is acting pretty rude to Rose but remember he's still kind of "hurting" in a way because Gwen and Kevin pretty much left him and he wants to go for the whole solo-hero thing. Thanks :) I had always loved the Megawhatts so one day the idea just popped in my head :3 I wanted an unusual name for him so I decided to look for a name in another language. I'm just really glad to know that you liked my story and grateful for reviewing and letting me know. **

**_Disclaimer: I do own anything but my OC Rosalinda._**

**No flames. Read and Review!**

* * *

**Chapter 5****: CO2 does not mix well with the Screegit**

_"You know very well who I am and what I'm doing here." _

_"Refresh my memory."_

_"I'm Pax. Alien Rights Activist." _

...

"I'm Pax. Alien Rights Activist." Ben looked at him incredulously.

"Wait, what?" Pax coughed and hugged Ben and me to him.

"We're here to free the Screegit of it's life of torment!"

"Torment? My boy! I am merely doing the Screegit a kindness. Just like with Earth cows, the milking system must be relieved regularly." Pax scoffed at this before Ben pushed his arm away - unfortunately he was holding me too tight so I couldn't break free.

"What kind of fools do you take us for?" Wait, duh! Phase through him Rose! I concentrated just like I did before when I managed to break into Holestar's ship. Voila! I went right through his arm. I saw him give a little shudder. Huh, I guess it feels different for other people. That's when I realized something. I never had tried to go through someone before. I should probably put that to practice. If I'm too startled to react I probably won't be able to do it and that's something that could cost me greatly.

"What are my options?" Hokestar muttered begrudgingly, crossing his thin arms over his torso. He just called us...count to ten Rose, count to ten...

"Uh Pax? This Screegit thing does seem a bit happy." I turned to see the Screegit giving a toothy smile with half lidded eyes. It looked like it was drunk. A happy drunkard. "More like a pet really than a hostage." I turned my head sideways and looked at it better. Ben had a really good point...

"What's the difference!" Pax exclaimed angrily, which only made me back away towards Ben instead.

"For one, I treat the Screegit as if it were my own kin!" Hokestar approached Pax with confidence as he said this. Pax only narrowed his eye at him.

"You keep your family locked up in a cage?" He exclaimed incredulously in Hokestar's face. I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the major translation Pax had found in what Hokestar said.

"I think -" Ben didn't get a chance to intervene.

"It is for it's own safety, of course - and ours!" Ours? What did he mean by that? I turned to look at the Screegit. That cute, little critter could harm us? Heh, appearances fool I guess.

"You know maybe -"

"You can't do this! It's like a travesty man!" Pax pointed a long, green finger at Hokestar, his volume rising in tone with his rage. I thought he looked more like a pacifist.

"It's not up to you! Radical!"

"Alright, fine! Ignore this!" Ben exploded beside me. I looked at him worriedly until he picked up the energy ball with the Screegit. I panicked. I stumbled back and almost fell out of surprise. "Until I know what's what the Screegit's coming with me!" He started walking away, me too surprised to actually follow after. Is he crazy?

"NO!" My jaw dropped when I saw Hokestar and Pax, suddenly leap onto Ben. This looked like a sibling fight.

"Every creature belongs to itself!"

"No!"

"Let go!"

"Give me that back!"

"It's mine!"

During the strange exchange I had moved to the door...okay, no. Embarrassingly I floated up and had to push myself to the entry until I fell down. I really have to get a grip of myself. Suddenly two grocery bags landed beside. I turned and-

"AAAHH!" I jumped back and landed through Hokestar's ship, meaning that I literally went flying through the wall an landed outside. What was that rock-thing?

"Ow..." I looked down and suddenly felt a surge of...just plain negative emotions swarming over me. Why can't I control this? Am I just not good enough? Why in blazes did I even get stuck with this life anyways? Oh thats right; thank you mommy and daddy. Thank you for sending me away with a bunch of strangers who turned out to mostly be aliens. I glared at the floor as tears threatened to come to my eyes. Tears of frustration. My fist tightened and my eyes closed. All my life I have never been able to do things right, when I did nobody was around or nobody cared. I threw my glasses off. Sure, this ha happened a few times already, but you know, a person can only take much. For me, this is a constant roller coaster compared to my usual, dull and boring routines. I was snapped out of my slowly spiraling down thoughts when I saw a flash come from the ship. I saw electricity flow all around it. Ben. No time for this now. Grabbing my glasses back I made my way over to the entrance. A strange, bluish-white alien came floating out with the Screegit.

"Ben! What are you doing?" He turned to me, green eyes opening with surprise.

"Ah! There you are Rose! Hang on!"

"What do you- aaahh!" With his free, uh...I'm just gonna call it hand, he grabbed me and flew out. "Ben! Why are you taking the Screegit!" I was glad I didn't phase through him - guess I must be getting used to flying.

"Those two nut jobs won't settle on an agreement and I don't know what this Screegit really needs so I'm just going to take it back to Plumbers. Let them handle the fella." I looked at him, then at the Screegit. It seemed tired. Poor thing.

"I think you should just leave it there Ben. I mean - while I still don't like him - Hokestar did say something about the Screegit being dangerous to us." Ben practically waved of my worries.

"This little guy doesn't look like it could harm a fly. Don't worry, I've got this under control." I sighed and looked down as we exited the underground, alien "city" and started flying high above buildings. Suddenly a familiar voice came from somewhere - very randomly in my opinion.

"Ben? Ben are you there?" Ben started shuffling around until he let out an irritated groan.

"Rose, think you can answer that?" I looked around on his head until I found the communicator he was talking about, pressing my fingers against it I put it up to Ben's face so he could answer. "I'm here Rook, and I'm on my way." Before Ben could go on about the Screegit Rook interrupted him.

"- and Rose?" I put the tiny device to my face this time.

"Tagging along."

"Yeah, and we've got this rare Screegit with us." Suddenly Rook's tone changed drastically.

"You have a Screegit?! On Earth?!" Uh oh.

"Don't tell me, it's dangerous isn't it? I told you we should've left it with Hokestar Ben!"

"Oh come on, he's just a little fella, what harm could he-?" My eyes widened. The Screegit had suddenly become bigger - too big to fit inside the energy sphere.

"Ben!" The Screegit managed to break through, creating a slight explosion and distracting Ben. This, unfortunately, caused him to drop the Screegit and me.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" The little device left my hands as I plummeted down along with the increasing-in-size Screegit.

"Oops." I could've sworn Ben said that but I couldn't be sure. The wind was rushing past me so fast it was leaving me half deaf and my hair was all over the place - including my face so I couldn't see a thing either.

"Oof!" I was caught by something...eh, it's Ben. The sudden change though; landing so abruptly and as unexpectedly as I did, left me very lightheaded.

"- on't you dare faint on me Rose!" At first it was very faint but slowly Ben's voice reached my ears.

"Huh? Wha?" I turned around. Ben had put me down and had changed back into his human form. He seemed very frantic as he shook me. I waved his arms off, "Where's the Screegit?" As if on cue screams and thrashing sounds came from my left. We both turned to see...the Screegit...as big as a house - maybe more - and I saw that it had green...drool...it dropped to a car and the top started melting down. Acid drool. That's just fantastic... "...Never mind." I stood up with Ben's help.

"What just happened? The galaxy's cutest fuzzball is suddenly looking a lot less cute."

"Fast metabolism?" I suggested with a raised eyebrow. Sarcasm, duh.

"The Screegit is not just rare, it's extremely dangerous." Rook's voice came from...from Ben's Omnitrix, I think.

"You don't say." Heh, guess sarcasm runs around, eh Ben?

"I'm on my way." With that Rook cut off the communication.

"This is so not cool." I said shaking my head, "It's just plain wrong."

"You're telling me." Ben nodded at me. Pax suddenly appeared behind us.

"W-where's the Screegit?" He looked around frantically before I deadpanned by pointing towards the gigantic, avid drooling creature.

"First start off by telling me what happened to it?" Ben asked, not tearing his eyes from the scene. Pax put his hands down.

"I have no idea. I mean, Screegits only react like this in a nitrogen filled environment. But you earthlings breath oxygen." I slapped my forehead at this. Major fail.

"Hello! Earth's atmosphere has nitrogen in it too pal!" Pax threw his hands around.

"Well, why didn't you tell me!" He exclaimed.

"Why didn't you ask!" I yelled back.

"Besides, it's not like that's something that you just pop into a conversation. Hi. My name's Ben. My atmosphere is rich in nitrogen, how's yours?" I snickered at Ben's way of coping with the situation. He was really frustrated now.

"What do we do now Ben?" I asked him, looking warily at the Screegit. He looked at me before fumbling with the Omnitrix.

"I'm gonna try to stop it. You're staying here with Pax." He ran over a car.

"What? No way!" I felt like I had just been brushed off - I would not take that. I ran after him, jumping over the car just like him and following him even as he transformed into Swampfire. Truthfully he didn't run that fast. I saw Pax running next to me.

"You know you should really inform yourself before going into action Pax." I'll admit I did feel a bit of anger towards him.

"Sorry dudette, an alien activist's gotta do what an alien activist's gotta do." I rolled my eyes and tried my best to keep up with Ben. He disappeared behind a building along with the Screegit. Seeing a chance I ran for an alley to take a shortcut. I'm such an idiot. It's a dead end. Focusing I tried to remember what it was that actually triggered the phasing immediately...water! I imagined myself drowning and managed to go through the wall like it wasn't even there. I found myself in front of a gasoline stop. Where's the Screegit? And Ben? The ground started shifting and rumbling underneath me. Now, considering that I'm from an island where earthquakes are common yet take everyone by surprise, I would think that this was an earthquake. Knowing that somewhere around me there is a gigantic furry alien roaming around made me wary of my surroundings for the Screegit.

A paw with large claws landed right beside me, making me screech in surprise as I moved quickly to avoid being stepped on or completely covered in acid. Unfortunately, I was not was enough to step away from the alien without being covered by said acid. I did realize the Screegit had stepped on the gasoline stop, noticing too late to actually do something in my favor. It happened too fast.

_KA-BOOM!_

I'm screwed.

I squeezed my eyes shut and threw my arms in front of me - I don't know why, it was completely useless to "shield' myself from the explosion. I felt the wind rushing strongly against me, almost throwing my body off balance. I did not feel the prominent heat from the flames as I should have...maybe I died already? Perhaps that's the whole thing, a quick, painless death. Maybe I'm already in heaven...well, I technically don't know that. I mean I'm not the one to judge here. As a matter of fact I am the one being jud- wait a second here. I'm not dead, am I? I opened my eyes to see a blue sphere around me, my hands glowing an ethereal blue. A force field! I can create force fields! Cool...except, I didn't really _feel _any specific emotion. All I did was act on...instinct. That's it! I looked at my hands. If I try, I could probably control my abilities just by wanting for them to function. My emotions had been in complete control of my powers, therefore acquiring immediate control of me and my life. But I am not going to let my emotions control me. They wont control me. I control them.

Hey, where did Screegy go? I looked to my left I saw the alien alive and well, innocently rounding a corner. I waited - slightly impatiently - for the fire below and around me to die before making the field disappear completely. I chased after Screegy, wondering just where the heck Ben and Pax were. Precisely a second after the thought crossed my mind, I felt something grab me from the back of my shirt, my feet leaving the ground and everything started rushing by my faster.

"Woah! Hey wait-!" I turned my head and stopped dead. Ben was carrying me with his mouth - he turned into Wildmutt, an alien that closely resembles an alien, orange dog with no eyes. that wasn't what I found completely random and unexpected, it was seeing Pax riding on Ben that really got me staring. Pax scoffed at my incredulous stare up at him.

"It wasn't me. I was completely against this!" I rolled my eyes, hearing Ben grunt in agreement. My eyes widened and I froze. Did I just...did I just understand Ben's strange alien language? I didn't actually have time to ask Ben something else just to see if it hadn't simply been my overactive imagination because my train of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of debris crushing. What do you know? Its a train track that was smashed-...oh...major pun there.

"Aw man! It smashed right through those tracks!" Just as Pax said this - and Ben put me down - a loud, honking sort of noise came. "And that makes the problem substantially worse." Why do I feel surprised to hear him use such a big word? Ben's Omnitrix timed out and he transformed into a human, Pax weighing him down onto the street.

"Seriously? Are those keys in your pocket?" I pressed my lips together to hold a snicker in. That position is such so hilarious!

"Sorry man!"

"Alright Omnitrix, I need something big to stop this train! You hear me?" I would've sarcastically said that the machine wouldn't answer him back but this wasn't the time. I was nervously glancing between Ben and the approaching train. He transformed into a small, goblin-like red alien with green clothing.

"Jury Rigg? How does this help anybody?" He slammed his hand onto his Omnitrix. Is that...?

"Grey Matter? Seriously?" Again. I can't even remember the name of that alien but it was even smaller. It was like a freaking gag.

"Come on already!" Now he turned into Bloxx. I watched as he jumped up and placed himself on the spot of the missing tracks. I winced as I realized he was going to replace them.

"This is gonna hurt...eoooowww!" I covered my eyes until I heard the sound of plastic blocks hitting the ground.

"Ben! Are you okay?" I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Awesome!" Ben cracked his neck and I winced again.

"I'm okay Rose - glad you enjoyed it so much Pax." I could already hear the hostility coming from Ben - couldn't say I blamed him.

"So, what do we do now?" I looked at Pax and I would've answered him but that small, rocky alien from before jumped on him.

"My boy! You're a segmentasepien!" I looked at Hokestar with a raised eyebrow.

"A what now?"

"Is that what I am? I mean, so?" Heh, way to cover it Ben.

"So?" Hokestar said incredulously, "I have met your kind before! If you transform your body to surround the Screegit in an air-tight shell and allow me to vacuum the nitrogen, the little creature should revert back to a more containable size!" ...Small world.

"Okay, you stay back - that includes you Rose." He looked sideways at me. I was taken aback.

"What are you looking at me for? I didn't do anything reckless!" He gave me a 'you-think-I'm-an-idiot?' look.

"I'll deal with King Fuzzy Face. I'll yell when I'm ready for ya." Hokestar nodded and I felt my eyebrow twitch. Really? I wasn't in it from the beginning but it bothers me how Ben can trust this baloney guy more than me.

"I am at your beck and call." I rolled my eyes, until I heard Pax from behind.

"Just remember: it's an innocent, harmless creature!" I would've believed it more had he not been stomping down on Rocky the alien.

"Tell that to the transit authority." I looked in Ben's direction before chasing after both him and the Screegit.

"Excuse me, but I believe Ben did say that-" I turned and pointed a finger in Hokestar's direction. His eyes widened and he covered himself. Haha. Probably thought I was gonna blast him.

"You are not the boss of me - an neither is Ben." He's younger than me anyways. I followed as fast as my legs could carry me. When I reached them I saw the Screegit spitting the wall Ben had transformed into. He quickly went back to his more humanoid form and broke one of those water thingies, stepping onto the splashing water. I saw smoke coming out of him. Ouch. Ben jumped on some buildings and then landed on the Screegit. I wonder if I could maybe back up the Screegit. He started punching it but wasn't really doing much damage. Once he got down again, I ran over to him.

"Sorry that I have to do this to ya big fella but...-" Pax came flying out of nowhere and grabbed Ben's mouth from behind. I didn't listen to him yell because I was focusing on my energy. Alright, I was energy blasts; no flying, no phasing, no field. Just blast. I felt a grin of accomplishment stretch my face as my fists were engulfed in blue energy.

"Hurry my boy!" Hokestar called. I turned to Ben who was trying without success to get Pax off.

"Ben I can back him up for ya!" I lifted my glowing fists for him to see. He looked like he was about to object but then glanced at the Screegit.

"A-alright. Hurry up Rose." I nodded and pointed my hands upwards, letting the energy go. With five loud 'boom!'s the Screegit fell back against a building. Ben jumped and surrounded it, with Pax still hanging on.

"Please! Leave him alone!" I flinched when Ben pushed him off and he fell inside a dumpster.

"Sorry Pax! He's in a hurry!" Not like it wasn't obvious but I guess that those are the type of things you need to explain throughly to Pax.

"Now Professor!" I looked up expectantly, instead finding Hokestar slowly descending a building. Annoyed by his slow movements I blasted a hole beside his head which made him loose his footing and slip. It had the desired effect. He went down faster. Ben started to let smoke out, probably the Screegit spitting him from the inside with acid. When he reached Ben he slammed his vacuum onto him, bending the perfected wall Ben had created and started vacuuming. It must've worked because Ben seemed to relax if only a bit.

"It's alright my lad, you can let go of it now." Ben shrunk down and transformed into a human.

"I don't think I'll ever see cute things the same way." I said as I glanced at the now tiny Screegit.

"There you are precious. Back to your rightful size." Hokestar put the energy field around it once again. I saw Pax coming from behind him...eh, let 'em have some fun.

"No! The Screegit must run free!" I laughed out loud when Pax practically ran over Hokestar to get a hold of the energy sphere. "Free the Screegit!"

"Does this guy ever quit?" Ben asked, exasperated at the alien.

"I think we all know that answer." I said crossing my arms, smile still on place.

"Free the-!" An orange, energy rope captured, tied him down and made him drop the tiny alien. I turned to see Rook with some other Plumbers I didn't recognize.

"We will take possession of the creature now, thank you very much." He grabbed the Screegit. Suddenly the Plumbers came, arrested Pax and started dragging him away.

"Go ahead! Lock me in! Then I'll get to experience what brothers and sisters feel!"

"Hey, wait! You guys are locking him up?"

"Duh! After all the damage he caused I think it's only fair!" Ben was clearly aggravated with Pax.

"Oh..." I walked over to where Pax was and held out a fist, which was greeted with a much bigger one in return. "See ya later Pax." Said plant alien only grinned back.

"Will do Lil Blue." He only called me that because of my powers, but I didn't mind. I waved when he was out of sight, unaware of the bewildered expressions being thrown my way by my two companions. When I turned around I stared back blankly before shrugging.

"What can I say? The guy might've been a total numb-numb but he didn't have any malicious intent...he just needs to think more before acting."

"...Don't tell me you actually like him?" Ben deadpanned, heaving his shoulders down. I blinked at him, confused at why the question came so...I don't know, it sounded as if he couldn't believe it. I looked at Rook and saw a disturbed expression plastered on his face.

"Uh...yeah?" Their eyes widened at my answer which made me scratch my head in a confused manner. "What? The only reason we get along is because I don't like Hokestar and Pax seemed to always be able to hit, humiliate or do something else to him I wish I could do." They let out a breath of relief. "What else did you guys think I meant?" Suddenly I froze, my cheeks flaming slowly. They thought I meant I liked Pax in...'that' way! "Ew! No! What is wrong with you guys? No way! Nu-uh! Not now. Not ever!" I shuddered at the very thought. How could they even think that...

"Well now, with your kind permission gentleman, I'll take the Screegit and be-" Ben interrupted Hokestar, giving the Screegit to Rook.

"-handcuffed to that nut job for a year if you so much as 'think' of getting your hands on the Screegit." Hokestar quickly started babbling, trying to fake an oblivious act.

"Wow, that's what I call commitment." Hokestar glared at me for my comment but immediately went back to his fidgety escape when my eyes and hands started glowing, an obvious sign to back off.

"I see you have gained some form of self-control over your abilities Rose." I glanced at Rook as my eyes and hands went back to their normal state.

"Yeah, I figured out a way to stop my emotions from controlling them." He glanced down at the Screegit.

"The Professor's motives for the Screegit I can understand, that Pax fellow however not so much."

"He means well."

"Which makes him even more dangerous." I finished for Ben. It was true.

"So Rook...Kúai caused any trouble while I was gone?"

* * *

**_You know, I just realized that I put Rose in a very Raven-like situation with her emotions. You know because Raven's powers are controlled by her emotions too and they can be very...explosive if not under control. I hadn't even thought about that when I decided to give her those abilities. *shrug* Oh well, it'a just an observation I made when I re-read the chapter and right after a Teen Titans episode started. xD_**

**_R&R!_**

**_=^.^=_**


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